Anchorage Assembly Budget Work Session - October 10, 2025
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Anchorage Assembly Budget Work Session - October 10, 2025
The Anchorage Assembly held a budget work session on October 10, 2025, beginning at 20:58 UTC, to review the proposed 2026 municipal budget. The session featured detailed presentations from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and several departments, including Fire, Police, Maintenance & Operations, Health, and Parks & Recreation. Discussions focused on historical funding trends, staffing challenges, infrastructure costs, and policy impacts. No formal votes were taken, but deadlines and future work sessions were established.
Discussion Items
Historical and Comparative Budget Overview (OMB)
- Presenter: Ms. Browse (OMB) provided a historical analysis of Anchorage’s budget, noting that in 1984 the operating budget was $181 million, with 30% ($52.7 million) funded by the state. The tax cap adopted in 1983 was based on that funding mix.
- Operating expenditures per capita have remained flat when adjusted for inflation, and the budget has grown little in real terms.
- State capital funding for Anchorage dropped from $856 million (2005–2014) to $257 million (2015–2024); excluding the Port of Alaska, the latter falls to about $30 million. Revenue sharing also declined by approximately $100 million.
- Density and land area: Anchorage ranks 75th in population among U.S. cities over 100,000 but 346th in density (171 people/sq mi) and first in land area (1,700 sq mi). It is 5.8% of the land area of all such cities but only 0.3% of their population. Members noted the high cost of serving a sprawling, low-density city that functions as both a city and borough.
- Members discussed the need to connect spatial planning to operating costs and the impact of housing policy on budget.
Fire Department
- Budget: Proposed 2026 operating budget of $131.9 million, up from $123.3 million revised 2025. Increases are contractual, debt service, and a Girdwood service area adjustment; no discretionary changes.
- Staffing: 408 full-time positions, 29 vacant (17 firefighters). Currently 13 ambulances on the road daily. Chief reported that a 4-person crew model would require 50 additional firefighters, and a 4-platoon system would require 125 more plus $100 million in infrastructure.
- Federal Grant: A SAFER grant for 18 positions expires February 2026, but a new 3-year grant for 20 positions with a 33% match ($1.4M/year) has been awarded. This is not yet reflected in the budget; a first-quarter revision is planned.
- Fleet: Ambulance and engine replacement is behind schedule. Two new ambulances went into service the day prior. The bond request includes three ambulance replacements ($1.14M) and two fire engines ($2.5M). The reserve fleet is inadequate.
- Call Volume & Outdoor Fires: Call volume has increased steadily. Outdoor fires (dumpster, campfires) have surpassed all other fire types. Members and the chief discussed the effectiveness of a recent ordinance aimed at reducing outdoor fires and the need for interdepartmental coordination between fire and police for enforcement.
- Performance Metrics: Members requested metrics on outdoor fire responses and a briefing on the police and fire retirement fund’s fiscal status.
Police Department
- Budget: Proposed 2026 operating budget of $151.2 million, up from $146.0 million revised 2025. Increases from debt service, wage adjustments (including police/fire retirement increase of ~$850,000), fleet charges, and Girdwood service area.
- Staffing: 425 sworn positions authorized, 381 filled, 41 in training. A staffing study recommends 474 sworn. Chief cited that officers are spending well over 60% of time on calls, making the department reactive. Response times are 3 times the benchmark for all calls and priority 1 calls.
- Fleet: No new fleet replacement funding in this budget; a ballot measure for police fleet levy was not approved. The department uses vacancy savings and grants to supplement outdated vehicles.
- Technology & Real-Time Crime Center: The new Axon contract and real-time crime center are not funded in this budget. Staff increases needed for full operation will be addressed in future revisions.
- Specialized Units: School resource officers and traffic units are at about 50% of needed capacity. The CSO program has 23 positions (mostly filled), with a desired future increase to 35.
- Building: The police station (former KeyBank building) was purchased in 2023 from ACDA for $18.3 million, originally purchased for $14 million. The 30-year financing at 5.3% will result in an all-in cost over $40 million. The cost impact on the department budget is not fully analyzed.
Maintenance & Operations (M&O)
- Budget: Proposed 2026 operating budget of $112.7 million, down from $117.9 million revised 2025 due to roll-off of GEO bond debt ($6.6M). Increases include Mountain View Community Center full-year funding, room tax adjustment, and fleet charges.
- Snow Operations: M&O Director stated that the department plows 1,600 lane miles. The current plow-out standard is 84 hours. Members asked about cost savings from slowing the plow-out to 96 hours; M&O will analyze. Sidewalk plowing covers arterials, collectors, school routes, and park-adjacent sidewalks, not all sidewalks citywide. New sidewalk equipment (six trackless tractors) will replace old units, not expand capacity.
- CDL Workforce: The municipality is exploring “grow your own” CDL programs due to federal licensing changes and a tight labor market. Some positions are being reclassified to allow non-CDL operators.
- Stormwater: A stormwater utility is under study, with a consultant and a revived commission. The cost of drainage issues is significant and appears in capital requests.
- Fleet & Facilities: Deferred maintenance on facilities is not yet fully quantified but is expected to be large. No new fleet replacement for police in this budget.
Health Department
- Budget: Proposed 2026 operating budget of $20.6 million, essentially flat from 2025 revised. The only change is a $5,764 fleet increase.
- Housing & Homelessness: The Housing and Homelessness account (244) increased from $3.8 million (2024 actual) to $9 million (2025 revised). Director Rash and OMB explained that costs for shelter and related services are being moved from one-time alcohol tax funding into the operating budget to make them recurring. The 2025 revised budget includes $8.6 million in contractual services, all recurring. Surge capacity for shelters is now funded separately in the alcohol tax budget ($1 million added). Members requested more detail on the components of the 244 account.
- Staffing: The health department has 124 total staff (63 funded by operating dollars). Nine vacancies remain. The department shed the Safety Center contract and took on marijuana tax oversight, adding one position.
- Community Outreach: A new health care provider has improved outreach and clinic services.
Parks & Recreation
- Budget: Proposed 2026 operating budget of $26.5 million, up from $28.8 million revised 2025 (decrease from one-time settlement recovery of $2.6 million removed). Increases from continuation of Mountain View Community Center, salary adjustments, and voter-approved service area changes.
- Staffing: The department has many seasonal/part-time positions. Director Gamble noted that converting part-time to full-time positions improves efficiency and retention. Several conversions are already planned. For the Healthy Spaces team (camp cleanup), the ideal staffing would be 20 full-time employees (up from 5) plus 14 seasonals (currently 14 part-time). That team is funded through alcohol tax but may transition to SWS fee revenue.
- Trash & Maintenance: Year-to-date, Healthy Spaces has picked up 1,069 tons (2.1 million pounds) of trash. Maintenance delays this year were attributed to late seasonal hiring. Converting to more full-time positions would reduce the hiring lag.
- Capital Projects: Parks capital requests are included in the bond package. Members noted the need for better communication about project timelines and the fact that appropriation does not mean immediate delivery.
Key Outcomes
- Future Work Sessions: The next budget work session is scheduled for October 24, 2025, to cover utilities, enterprises, alcohol/marijuana taxes, and additional comparative data. A work session on the City Hall building purchase will be scheduled before introduction on October 21. Amendment work sessions are set for early November (likely November 5 or 7).
- Amendment Deadlines: Assembly members should submit amendments for discussion before the November work session. The budget has $175,000 under the tax cap; amendments must be revenue-neutral, use cap room, or offset by reductions. No fund balance is available.
- Bond Program: The administration indicated the bond program is light; members are encouraged to review past CIP/CIB projects for potential additions. The ballot deadline for bonds is end of January 2026.
- School Budget: The school district’s budget and bond proposal will come later (December/January).
- First Quarter Revisions: The SAFER grant match, police fleet, and Healthy Spaces funding transitions will be addressed in first-quarter 2026 budget revisions.
Meeting Transcript
All right. We are now coming back. Miss Browse is here. We will dive back in. I think we're on department details OMB overview. Chris, I still leave that so that I don't have anything. Oh, we got it as well. So here's the deal. I guess we could do this and then skip the thing. Right, because we just dive in since they're coming. Yeah, and right, instead of going back to the end of the day. And as soon as since he was here first, we can start up with us through the histories and mysteries piece. Not directly related to the budget that we're talking about for 2026, but directly related to the municipal budget and our operations at large. We're in the 50th anniversary of our munification. What does that really mean for what our background has been? And as we're looking forward at our revenue conversation, our budget and our community infrastructure, where are we going to go? How will we get there? Where you know, where should we be going? What makes sense? So some of this is um just historical uh background detail and um and some is comparative uh community information, but we should be able to get through it relatively quickly. So um to begin as part of our you know assessment of our budget and how we have um used our budget in the past, uh, we went back through our historical files, and the mayor mentioned this um at the beginning of the meeting, but in 1984, our uh municipal operating budget was 181 million dollars, and 52.7 million of that was funded by the state. So about 30% of our operating budget at the time was state funded. And if you look at this um detail, you can see that it's about uh 60 million dollars in property taxes and 52 million, 53 million in state funds, and then the balance is other revenues. So that's about a third property taxes, a third state money, and a third other revenues. Um, this is interesting because the tax cap was approved in 1983 and implemented in 1984, and the tax cap was formed at a time when this was our budget circumstance. And I think that shapes the way those um policy decisions are made. And we it's important to sort of look back at how those decisions were made at the time when they were made under the conditions they were made, so that we can determine whether or not those conditions still exist today and if any um sort of revisiting is required. Um we did a look back on operating budgets and uh courtesy of uh Mr. Clauda and his economics background, we have um some comparative graphs on our operating budget spend over time. So between 2003 and 2025, this is um a representation of real dollars, constant dollars, not chair constant dollars, but um, of our operating budget between public safety and non-public safety spend. So the uh non-public safety spend is the orange line on the green, and the public safety spend is the blue line. And you can see that over time, when adjusted for inflation, that the spend is relatively flat. Um our operating budget across time is relatively flat because of the nature of our formula and our funding sources. So our tax cap is um only adjusted on an annual basis by you know a few factors, one of them being inflation. Um as uh uh Vice Chair Brawley pointed out earlier today, um, our tax growth this year is less than inflation. So it would be true that this line over time, when adjusted for that consideration is flat. Um, and this is our operating expenditure per capita over time, also flat. Um the sort of um expectation that because our budget numbers are getting bigger that we are you know spending more money than we have or we need to, or that our budgets are expanding when adjusted for real dollars is um relatively flat. If you go back one slide under the non-public safety, there's an increase from 2021. Is that my I hazard to guess it's snow? All the equipment and all that kind of major increase we've done. Um I don't I can't speculate immediately. I'd need to look at it specifically between let's see, do I get I think one of the challenges there has well, I don't want to, I don't want to speculate pandemic related and other things. So okay, I wouldn't welcome some information offline. Absolutely, yeah. Ms. Broly. Yeah, thank you. In that same spirit, um, and this is just a preview, I'll talk at the end of this meeting about another kind of way that we're tackling this big picture conversation. Um another couple data points that I think would be really helpful to have.
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