Anchorage Municipal Assembly Budget Work Session - Oct 25, 2025
STREAMING COPY IN PREPARATION — RECORDING AVAILABLE FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE
Anchorage Municipal Assembly Budget Work Session - Oct 25, 2025
On October 25, 2025, the Anchorage Municipal Assembly convened for a comprehensive budget work session focusing on the 2026 proposed operating and capital budgets. The meeting covered all utilities and enterprise funds, including hydropower, water, wastewater, the Port of Alaska, airports, waste services, and ACDA, followed by an in-depth briefing on the alcohol tax strategy and the capital improvement program. The Assembly aimed to finalize budget amendments by November 5th, with discussions centered on staffing levels, infrastructure maintenance backlogs, homeless crisis interventions, and debt obligations.
Consent Calendar
- No specific consent calendar items requiring a separate vote were highlighted in the transcript; the session proceeded directly into the review of utility and enterprise budgets.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Member Johnson: Expressed curiosity regarding the efficiency and economics of the micro-unit housing model compared to hotel conversions for affordable housing, questioning if the lack of shared walls impacts cost-effectiveness.
- Member Presridia (via Chair): Emphasized the critical need to address massive deferred maintenance on city roads, stating that the current state of roads, drainage, and glaciation issues represents a visible priority for constituents that often competes with other safety net priorities.
Discussion Items
Utilities and Enterprise Budgets
- Anchorage Hydropower: The budget includes a one-time removal of a $700,000 dividend to general government. General Manager Mark Spafford noted a new partnership model splitting the General Manager position and a focus on fish and wildlife processes, including the pump storage hydro and portal valve agreements.
- Water and Wastewater (AWW): Proposed budgets increased to $54.9 million (Water) and $56.6 million (Wastewater). Significant increases were noted for security services at the Clutson treatment facility and professional services due to inflation. Projects are driven by master plans rather than the standard CIP.
- Port of Alaska: The 2026 budget increased to $28.3 million, largely attributed to $5 million in new debt for port work. The Acting Director confirmed that Ship Creek dredging remains within the Port's responsibility and that a capital amendment is expected in January to shift funds toward wharf pile enhancements and marine infrastructure.
- Municipal Airports: The 2026 budget total is $2.9 million, reflecting the roll-off of an expiring CARES grant and anticipated revenue increases from a 10% fee adjustment approved via AO 2025-118.
- Solid Waste Services: The 2026 budget is $31.3 million (Disposal) and $16.9 million (Refuse). Staffing is nearly fully utilized. The implementation of a surcharge for community cleanup (AO 2025-101) is not yet reflected in the budget and is expected to be addressed in the first quarter revisions.
- Anchorage Community Development Agency (ACDA): The 2026 operating budget saw a slight decrease to $7.7 million. A capital proposal totals $3.1 million, including funds for the Anchorage Neighborhood Redevelopment Initiative and the JCPenney property acquisition.
Alcohol Tax Strategy and Budget
- Budget Adjustments: The proposed spend is $15.9 million, featuring a $500,000 reduction in evidence-based grants for providers (from $2M to $1.5M). Funding for the Multidisciplinary Team (MCT) was moved to the general operating budget. The alcohol tax enforcement and education line item was removed from the proposal.
- Strategic Priorities: Mayor's Office director Thea Agnew Bevan presented a strategy focusing on "Safe Anchorage" and "Homelessness and Health." Key investments include a $500,000 allocation for a coordinated physical space for the HOPE team at the Third Avenue Resource and Navigation Center and increased funding for the Christian Health Association for overnight shelter.
- Outcomes: The presentation highlighted a target to reduce unsheltered individuals, a goal to add 36 micro-unit homes, and the upcoming opening of crisis stabilization centers by South Central Foundation and Providence.
Capital Budget and Bonds
- Overview: The proposed 2026 capital budget totals $49 million. The "State" column in the budget is now zero, reflecting the end of expected state funding for capital projects.
- Roads and Transportation: Public Works Director Kent Colhays and Traffic Engineering staff explained that the bond size is calibrated to annual maintenance needs (drainage, streetlights, repaving) which total over $50 million annually, rather than a fixed percentage of debt. There was a discussion on the feasibility of amending the Capital Improvement Budget (CIB) before the bonds are finalized in November.
- Parks: The Parks and Recreation bond is approximately $7 million, focusing on completing long-standing projects like East Chester and athletic fields, while addressing critical bridge maintenance on trails.
Key Outcomes
- Hard Stop: A hard stop was set for the Alcohol Tax discussion at 3:25 PM to allow time for capital budget review.
- Amendment Deadline: The deadline for Assembly members to submit budget amendments is Wednesday, November 5th, at 5:00 PM. The amendment work session is scheduled for Friday, November 7th.
- Department Briefings: The Assembly voted to skip direct presentations for several departments (e.g., IT, Finance, Municipal Attorney) with minimal budget changes, offering to discuss them individually or at future work sessions upon request.
- Commission Actions: The Budget Advisory Commission is preparing a resolution supporting the 2026 proposed budget, and the Planning and Zonation Commission will hear the capital budget on November 3rd.
- Bond Constraints: It was clarified that bond funds can be used for design and construction but not feasibility studies or land acquisition without an ownership interest, per bond council guidelines. Amendments to the CIB in November are the preferred method for changing bond allocations.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, everyone, um, we are gonna get started again. It's a little after two. Um, so just a quick update on timing. Um because we have about two hours left. Um, my intent is not to hold this past four, because I know it's gonna be a long day for everybody. Um so we are going to switch the order briefly and and we're gonna take up the uh utilities and enterprise items in the order that's listed. Um we'll get through those. Then we will move into alcohol tax, get a briefing on that. Um, and then I am gonna have a hard stop if we if we need it to 315 for the alcohol tax discussion um because we need to save time for other things. And I imagine it's gonna get into things that could be dealt with um in other venues. And so um then we'll move into the capital budget, and then you'll see there's a number of departments that we have not gotten to, many of them the directors were not going to come anyway. And so if we have extra time, Miss Browse will run through those budgets, but uh the understanding is there's not a lot of changes there. And lastly, I'll say we will take up the assembly budget at our normal work sessions on amendments. We will also do a briefing on the branch budget um because it's important for members to understand that it includes the clerk's office, elections, ombudsman, many other functions. So we wanna make sure that we have time for that. Um and so with that, I'm gonna turn back to Ms. Brouse. And it looks like we are starting with anchoring hydro powder. Yeah. And if you can mention what slide we're on. Yes, uh, thank you, Chair Brawley. Um, so back in the slide deck, we are on slide 61 with anchorage hydropower. Um, the operating budget changes from 25 to 26. Um, if we run through the revised budget appropriation level at 6.4 million, um, you get down into the one-time moves and the removal of a $700,000 dividend to general government from 2025, a couple other um changes within um uh IgCs and uh transfers to other funds, and um a small adjustment for office and travel and we and at an appropriation total of 5.8 million dollars um with two uh full-time employees, including um the position for the uh general manager and uh an executive assistant. Um, but I think we are uh at least mostly familiar with the idea that the general manner posit manager position is being split between uh uh director Stafford and um uh one of our engineers and he can go into more explanation around that. But this is the um operating reconciliation and then the um uh ongoing fish and wildlife capital commitment of 325,000 for Anchorage Hydropowers 2026 budget. And any questions, uh Mark Spafford is here and can answer them related to hydro. Okay, any questions from the I mean just just can I chime in? Sorry, through the chair, uh deputy meeting manager Mark Spafford slash uh Anchorage Hydro Utility General Manager slash director. Um yeah, so I mean, primarily getting transitioned over from uh you know from Corsetino, I started like kind of officially when you guys crewed me in June of this year. And so a lot of it has been uh you know, trying to juggle the relationships and get caught up to speed on some of the the politics as well as like the technical pieces of it. Um and so I've been you know working pretty closely with not only the assembly but also the utilities to you know to foster better communications and more openness throughout you know the fish and wildlife process, which is basically the pump storage hydro and you know the portal valve, the occludeness stuff when we say fish and wildlife, that's pretty much what that means. But you know, me uh rolling stone. I'm also looking at ways for next year that we can also kind of like do more with the hydropower utility. Look at you know, there are other energy efforts, stuff around the utility or around the municipality that we could look at that we could you know incorporate into AHU. And so that's kind of like one of the master planning, higher level things that we're gonna be working on next year as well as you know, like what is what is this utility gonna do? Is it just gonna be on the the hydro and occlutin, or is it gonna be you know a bunch of different energy endeavors? So we're we're we're currently looking at um looking at doing that for next year as well. So, or that's some of the things that are rolling around in my head anyway. Okay. Yeah, just um just generally giving high level of like how are you in terms of staffing? Um and um and generally, you know, you mentioned a few things, but but what are some things that we're sort of need to kind of keep our eye open for the next year? I think the main is the the pump storage hydro and the the the AWO um water agreements are like another big one. Um as far as staffing is concerned, it's like you know, obviously I've got a couple hats, and so um, you know, I do this part-time. Um I have an engineer, uh engineering director who's like probably about halftime on this project that helps out. And then we also hired a uh executive assistant um earlier this year as well. So yeah. So it was myself, an engineering director half time and an executive assistant. Yeah, thanks. And I'm looking at my budget book here.
openpublica.com