This year’s budget cycle has had its ups and downs– anticipating a deficit early in the process, in March the assembly tasked department heads with finding areas where the budget could be trimmed. Ultimately a few cuts plus a $400,000 increase in property tax revenue left the city with over $200,000 surplus in the general fund.

That didn’t change between the first and second reading of the budget in April, but Municipal Administrator John Leach noted one minor change in the text.

“As pointed out in the last meeting, we inadvertently left the school district facilities out of the capital improvement plan. That has been added,” Leach said. “It has not changed any of the numbers that were in the budget. But wanted to point that out.”

That pleased assembly member JJ Carlson, who was the lone no vote on the first reading after noticing the missing information. Carlson said the role of the assembly is to trust and verify.

“If there’s any misconceptions about my no [vote] last time, it wasn’t because of inaccuracies or upsetness,” Carlson said. “I have to vote based off what’s in the document. And it’s great to see, you know, a couple more lines in there that that highlight new assets that have come back into our our rolls, and that is my verification process. So I’m very, very pleased and excited to say yes, tonight.”

Overall, the assembly spent little time discussing the budget. Assembly member Thor Christianson said after months of meetings and a transparent process facilitated by city staff, there wasn’t much to discuss.

“I have 100% confidence in this budget. And I mean, we all know it’s going to be tweaked throughout the year, as estimates hit reality,” Christianson said. “I think we’re in good hands, and I appreciate the process.”

Nevertheless, Administrator Leach said there was always room for improvement. One change he wants to see down the line is the creation of a “capital investment plan” separate from the city’s capital improvement plan, which he said should focus on new projects.

“Those really are two different things. Capital investment means you’re investing in keeping your assets alive to the life that was planned for. So when you see a lot of things in here, like paving of you know, fill in the blank on the street, that’s kind of a capital investment thing, but we still pool it all together in this capital improvement plan,” Leach said. “[A] capital improvement plan should be things like, ‘Hey, we want to get a new ice rink for the city of Sitka, wink, wink,” Leach said, jokingly.

Mayor Steven Eisenbeisz said he’s been trying to figure out how to curb rate increases for a long time – the assembly this year raised rates again for all of the city’s enterprise funds, continuing years of “catch up” to maintain aging city infrastructure. Eisenbeisz said adjusting the budget process to include an additional long range infrastructure plan like Leach described could help.

“If we do separate out our capital budget, and I understand the implications of what I’m saying, you know, this process is now going to start in October as opposed to December, but if we pull that out, we do have a little bit more say on rate increases,” Eisenbeisz said. “I think our community is getting a little tired of constant rate increases. I’m getting a little tired of it, but I also understand the infrastructure side. So it’s a little it’s a give and take there.”

The assembly approved the city’s general and enterprise fund budgets unanimously on final reading.