Sitka has another budget surplus this year, due in large part to a steep uptick in sales tax revenue. When the Sitka Assembly met on Tuesday (9-26-23) municipal administrator John Leach asked the assembly to tuck some of that money away to cover repairs and replacement of aging infrastructure down the line.
“We’ve had some pretty historic returns on our sales tax figures this year,” Leach said. “There’s a lot of factors involved in that– tourism is one of them. So we’re looking to transfer…about $4.5 million into our public infrastructure sinking fund, and that leaves us, I would say, an unrestricted fund balance of around $8 Million.”
Over the last three years, the assembly has transferred around $12 million into the public infrastructure sinking fund. The city has a lot of aging infrastructure on its books – some was built by the state when oil money was flowing freely, but when that money dried up, the city took over ownership and management of some of it, like the harbors. It adds up to millions of dollars in deferred maintenance. Now, the city has a plan for prioritizing repairs based on the level of risk.
Assembly member Kevin Mosher said growing the infrastructure sinking fund means they can replace and repair more without raising rates as much.
“In my mind, this is a way to do it without adding an unbearable tax burden on people,” Mosher said. “Obviously, we have a long way to go, but this is a cause for celebration. This is a wonderful thing, and I think a lot of times we we get kind of focused on what we’re doing, and that’s normal. But we need to take a moment to recognize the good things that are happening in this community.”
The assembly unanimously approved the $4.5 million dollar transfer into the public infrastructure sinking fund.
Assembly plans for lengthy recertification process for Green Lake Dam
Not all infrastructure expenses are repair related— sometimes the money goes to permitting which can be costly too.
That’s the case with the relicensing of the Green Lake Dam. In 1979, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a license to build and operate the Green Lake Dam. On Tuesday, the assembly heard a presentation from Elizabeth Lack, a consultant working with the city to get the dam relicensed.
“This is a 50 year license, and it’s going to expire in March of 2029. So why are we here now? 2029 is a ways out yet. Well, a relicensing process is a fairly complex and lengthy process,” Lack said. “It typically takes about five to six years. So we’re getting it started now.”
The lengthy process to relicense the dam in addition to a pile of paperwork, requires developing a “study plan.”
“The next step, of course, is implementing the plan. That’s when the scientists and technical experts get out in the field, collect their data, do their inventories, that kind of thing,” Lack said. “And then of course, they’ll prepare reports on their studies, and finally, we’ll take all that information and prepare the license application.”
Then the city will submit its final application in 2027- FERC has two years to review it, and go through their own environmental review process. And hopefully, Lack said, the city will earn another license by 2029. All in all, they estimated the process would cost around $1.5 to $2 Million. Assembly member Thor Christianson said that was triple an estimate he was given years ago.
“And it just is one of the reasons when people ask me why our electric rates are what they are, things like this,” Christianson said. “I mean, we get nothing from this. Not one watt of energy is produced because of this permit,” Christianson said, but added that he knew it was necessary.
In response, electric director Scott Elder said “fortunately it’s a process we only have to do hopefully once every 50 years.”
Assembly awards $45,000 in grants to local nonprofits
The Sitka Assembly awarded thousands of dollars in grant funding to several local nonprofits last night (9-26-23).
Each year the assembly distributes grants for nonprofits from the general fund through a program that was established in 2006. Eight organizations applied this year, requesting more than double the available funds. Rather than making nonprofits compete for the lion’s share, each assembly member lists his or her recommendations for distributing the money across the board. They then take all seven assembly members’ lists and average them together to determine how much money each nonprofit will receive.
The largest grant went to Southeast Alaska Independent Living, followed closely by Braveheart Volunteers– each won around $8000 dollars. Sitka Counseling, Alaska Arts Southeast, Outer Coast, the Sitka Music Festival, Sitka Trailworks and the Greater Sitka Chamber of Commerce also received awards.
In all, the assembly doled out $45,000 dollars across the eight organizations.
