The city may be adding at least 11 full-time staff positions this year. At a special meeting on February 8, the assembly reviewed budget proposals from city departments, which, in addition to more staffing, include everything from a request for body cameras for Sitka’s police to new deicing equipment for local roads.
The 11 full-time positions include four full-time firefighters, a tourism manager, a circulation manager at the library, and a new accountant. It also includes four maintenance positions, which the city will absorb if it takes over maintenance for the Sitka School District. And the city’s finance director Melissa Haley told the assembly there may be requests in the future for more full time positions.
Right now the city is flush with federal grant money. Municipal administrator John Leach said that this year he’s focused on getting those grant projects off the ground.
“This year, my focus has been the human capital side, and getting the resources we need to get those projects going, because as you saw on the previous slide, $78.4 million worth of federal grant funding secured. We have lots to do right now,” Leach said.
But the city is already struggling with staff retention. Right now it’s advertising for 27 vacant positions. Haley said a recent employee survey showed dissatisfaction in a number of departments.
“We have a number of employees…who have seriously considered leaving CBS employment,” Haley said. “There’s about 43%, who feel they aren’t fairly paid. I think one of our other challenges is that across the board, staffing has become a huge challenge.”
Leach said the problem is not unique to Sitka. Across the state cities are struggling to retain employees.
“People are leaving the state, and in pretty big numbers, and it’s because there are better opportunities and other places,” Leach said. “We need to find a way to make Alaska more competitive.”
The city’s budget is growing not just because of an influx of federal funding– it’s also seen historic sales tax returns driven by both inflation and the increase in summer tourism. But not every industry is booming. Assembly member Chris Ystad, who is a commercial fisherman, said his industry is getting hit hard, and he worried about adding full-time positions when a key pillar of Sitka’s economy is struggling.
“As soon as I opened up the slideshow today, I saw storm clouds,” he said. “That is how I feel right now…I see storm clouds brewing with our economy in this town. So I’m not saying really no to anything yet. I’m just very hesitant to start spinning big.”
The meeting was just a presentation and discussion, no decisions on the budget were finalized. The assembly generally meets a couple of times a month to review different aspects of the budget with city staff before approving a final draft later in the spring.
