Chilkat Valley News - Serving Haines and Klukwan, Alaska since 1966

The Haines Borough Assembly on Tuesday adopted a $12.9 million operating budget with amendments to keep the pool open for 11 months and pay for a professional curator at the Haines Sheldon Museum, among other increases.

At the final budget hearing, the assembly voted unanimously to spend an extra $35,434 on the pool and $60,000 on the museum. Those funds will come out of $126,423 in U.S. Treasury coronavirus fiscal recovery aid.

The assembly also opted to direct funding to several nonprofits and Porcupine Road maintenance.

“In all my years on city council and assembly, it seems like every time I’ve been to the budget process, everybody talks about, ‘We’re not going to spend any money; we’re not going to spend any money.’ And at the last meeting it’s like, ‘Get out the checkbook,’” said Haines Borough Mayor Douglas Olerud. “I think this is a good budget going forward.”

The manager’s draft budget proposed closing the pool for three months and didn’t include funding for a full-time curator position at the museum, whose payroll separated from the borough last year. Since the draft budget came out in April, members of the public have lobbied for more borough funding for both institutions.

Still, with the borough’s labor negotiations ongoing and the state budget not yet finalized, revenues and expenses are uncertain.

In addition to the pool and museum, the assembly directed $82,000 to nonprofits, including $24,000 each to the Haines Avalanche Center and Becky’s Place, and $20,000 to the Southeast Alaska State Fair.

The remainder will go to a competitive grant program for nonprofits devised by the assembly’s Government Affairs and Services Committee. That money came from the federal government as coronavirus aid during the pandemic and was set aside by the assembly last year as an emergency fund.

The assembly also allotted $30,000 of Federal Secure Rural Schools funding for Porcupine Road maintenance, which also was not covered in the manager’s draft budget.

Although assembly members ultimately agreed on most of the budget increases, they clashed on spending principles.

Two assembly members — Paul Rogers and Cheryl Stickler — said they were hesitant to allocate funds with two key uncertainties about exactly how much money will be available. The borough’s collective bargaining agreement has yet to be finalized, and the state budget is still awaiting the governor’s review.

Labor negotiations will affect payroll expenses and vetoes from the governor on the legislature’s budget could risk school bond debt reimbursement and funding for Lutak Dock and the jail.

Borough manager Annette Kreitzer said as of Tuesday the budget, passed by the legislature in mid-May, had not been sent to Gov. Mike Dunleavy.

Out of caution assembly member Paul Rogers moved to make proposed funding increases proportional to how much the final state budget commits past school bond debt reimbursement — about $2 million that it hasn’t paid to the school over the last few years.

Assembly member Cheryl Stickler agreed with the convservative approach. “What happens if we pass a budget and for whatever reason the governor’s budget doesn’t come in as expected?” Stickler said at a Tuesday finance committee about the budget.

“It’s always more comfortable to take budget amendments up when we want to increase, but it would be horrific to take budget amendments up to decrease… so at this time I feel we have no choice except to be cautious until we get some of those numbers,” she said.

Assembly member Debra Schnabel disagreed, pointing to $445,000 in available funds which hadn’t been allocated in the manager’s draft budget: $82,000 in the emergency fund, $126,000 in U.S Treasury coronavirus aid and $249,000 in borough permanent fund dividends.

“You’re right that it’s harder to take money away. But I think it’s also important to, as an assembly, have your budget say who you are as best you can,” Schnabel said at the finance committee meeting.

Assembly member Gabe Thomas and Mayor Douglas Olerud both said they understood both sides, feeling inclined to act out of caution but seeing reason to spend some additional funds, particularly on immediate needs.

“I’m very fiscally conservative, but there’s also the saying that you’ve got to spend money to make money,” Olerud said. “But it's a fine line on how you balance those two.”

In a memo to the finance committee, Kreitzer pointed out several potential funding sources to tap as well as potential financial drawbacks, like rising energy costs, maintenance and required local matches for future state or federal infrastructure grants.

Every department is currently over budget on energy costs by a total of $60,080, according to the memo.