The Assembly Budget and Finance Committee of the Whole met Thursday, September 17, 2026, from about 10:00 a.m. to 11:07 a.m. in City Hall Room 155. No agenda or minutes were available, so this summary is based only on the meeting transcript. Committee members participating in the room or by phone included Chair Donald Handelin, Anna Brawley, Sydney Scout, Baldwin Day, Johnson, Martinez, Gerger, Roland, McCormick, Park, and Voland. The committee received standing reports and continued a presentation on municipal service areas. No public comment was offered.
Budget Advisory Commission: Chair Ian Mills reported on the commission's recent meeting with OMB Director Browse about the 120-day memo. The commission passed Resolution AIM 146 2026, listed on the September 15 assembly agenda. Mills described the resolution as encouraging communication and engagement with the community, cooperation between the assembly and school district where feasible, and consideration of the long-term cost of maintaining infrastructure, especially through a density lens, noting that low-density development tends to have higher maintenance costs than the tax-based supports it generates. Mills is working with Member Scout on district-one town halls to gather budget input. Asked by Member Baldwin Day for concrete engagement suggestions, Mills said the resolution does not include specific guidance but he is happy to discuss ideas offline.
MOA Trust: Investment Director Kevin Liu reported a monthly return increase of 1.7% over the previous month, an $8.4 million increase in August. Year-to-date return was up 8.3%, driven by positive global markets as the tech selloff slowed. The Nasdaq returned 4.2% in August, and the S&P 500 reached an all-time high in August. No questions were asked.
Revenue Report: Deputy Treasurer Lauren Crawford said revenues are coming in essentially as forecast. In response to questions, she said ambulance service fee (SEMT) reimbursements from the state are received as a single lump sum based on the prior year, require completion of the ACFR, and can take more than a few months but less than a year. On the room tax, Crawford said a third of the revenue goes to general government outside the tax cap, with the other two-thirds going to other entities; online reports provide breakdowns such as hotel classes and short-term rentals. Member Handelin requested a follow-up email with the room-tax breakdown, and Member Baldwin Day suggested a future briefing on the bed/room tax, noting it becomes complicated with bond agreements for the Dena'ina Center.
Budget to Actuals: OMB Director Browse said the municipality was 66.3% through the fiscal year as of the end of August and underspent by about 3%. High spends in the Chief Administrative Officer department are driven by venues contracts and risk. Maintenance and operations was at 51% spent, well under normal, due to a prior assembly appropriation. Municipal manager was underspent largely because of an unspent non-labor software set-aside in the safety department. The TANS expense line showed zero because funds had not yet been transferred into TAN spend, expected by year-end.
Labor versus Non-Labor: Browse said payroll segmentation this year makes labor percentages look slightly off because more than 26 payroll periods are allocated due to splitting the beginning and end of the year. Non-labor highlights included CAO at 83% spent, Municipal Attorney's Office at 91% (reflecting a large contract encumbered at the beginning of the year), and PME at 88%; OMB has asked Director Kolhas whether PME's figure is an accounting anomaly or a specific spend.
Overtime: Finance is in an overspend category due to property appraisal work. APD and AFD overtime is higher than normal, related to budget adjustments and vacancies. Browse said overtime analysis is underway, including whether regular staffing could reduce overtime, particularly in the fire department where some overtime is tied to reimbursable state call-outs such as MCT operations.
Travel: Total travel budget is $589,000; $320,000 (54%) had been spent, with no department overspent.
Alcohol and Marijuana Taxes: Browse reported that prior questions about alcohol tax encumbrances likely resulted from the HANA conversion between platforms. Next month the congregate shelter annual operations contract line item will move due to assembly action. Alcohol tax grant programs are out the door and program operations are under spend. Asked about a possible year-end shortfall, Browse said OMB is not concerned; a prior fund balance may accommodate any overspend, and revenue projections show a slight increase in alcohol tax for 2027. Marijuana tax and ACE fund grant programs are moving out the door, tax-collection alignment will be handled before year-end, and board administration is on or under spend.
ACE Fund: Browse noted the ACE fund board has provided budget recommendations to the assembly. A work session on the ACE fund is scheduled Friday, October 2, 2026, from 2:10 to 3:10 p.m.
OMB Director Browse continued the service-area presentation begun in August. She reviewed the definition of service areas, where they are authorized, common types across Anchorage, how they are paid for, who runs them, the 21 individual LERSAs on the Hillside, differences between Eagle River and Girdwood, and how the more than 60 active service areas have evolved since the 1970s.
Browse displayed a spreadsheet of service-area mill levies. She explained that six major funds are part of the tax cap; the traditional five majors are the first four in a highlighted box plus ARDSA. The Anchorage Building Safety Service Area had no levy this year but has levied in past years. Not every service area pays into each fund, depending on whether residents voted into or out of those service areas over time.
Tax-cap mechanics: Browse and the clerk present explained that areas under the tax cap can be increased only by a vote of all municipal voters, while individual LERSAs and other outside-the-cap service areas have their own voter-approved mill-rate caps and can raise their mill rate with approval only of service-area voters. The clerk noted there are roughly 180 ballot styles because precincts can contain multiple LERSAs. Browse explained that Girdwood's attempts to use full-faith-and-credit debt have often failed because the entire municipality votes on that backing, even though only service-area residents would repay the debt.
Member questions on service-area equity: Member Voland asked about Stuckagain Heights without parks and rec, meaning it does not pay into the parks and recreation service area. She noted Glen Alps shows no fire levy and a lower total levy of 12.08, and asked whether fire service would still respond. Browse said the practical answer is likely yes, but non-emergency response is tied to the service-area structure, and detailed mapping would be needed for a full answer. Member Voland raised concerns that CASA, which shows many small levies and some blanks, could let lower-levy service areas avoid raising their own funds while area-wide voters subsidize facilities. Browse acknowledged the service-area model creates these tensions, and that blending all services area-wide would raise questions for smaller communities.
Member Handelin asked whether the municipality bills for responses to areas without fire service; Browse said it generally invoices for such service and noted Eagle River's fire arrangement. A clarification was offered that Eagle River is part of the Anchorage-area program, while Chugach is slightly different. Handelin observed that we have some areas with representation, but no taxation.
Member Baldwin Day questioned how areas came to be outside certain services, saying some residents appeared to have a premium subscription to the municipality without paying for it. Browse said this resulted from historical decisions made 50 years ago, including small neighborhoods that were formerly cities, and from the nature of a combined city-borough. Baldwin Day called the result horrifying.
Okay, everyone, let's go ahead and get started. Um this is the Assembly Budget and Finance Committee of the Whole. Today is Thursday, September 17th. We're noticed from 10 to 11 a.m. Uh City Hall 155. We'll do introductions. I know we got several folks on the phone, and then we'll move into our reports. Um, so starting in the room. Donald Handelin. Anna Brawley. And then I know um Sydney Scout is here. She'll be back. Uh I'll notice her when she gets there. And then on the phone, I see um Member Baldwin Day. Yes, I'm here, and I'll be with you in the room shortly. Okay, thanks. Uh member Johnson. I'm here. Member Martinez. Present. And Member Gerger. Here. Okay, great. Um, and I'll keep track of further show up. Uh, also joined in the room by uh clerk staff, uh, members of the administration, a couple members of the public and a couple of our presenters. And um we will start into our uh items and then I'll note I believe we'll have some additional documents from OMB probably being printed out. So we'll uh distribute those in the room when we get them. Uh so with that, let's move to our standing reports. Um, so first I will call up our budget advisory commission chair, Mr. Ian Mills. Uh, and then I'll note um we do not have it before us, but it was on our agenda. So let me just read out the number briefly. Uh one second, sorry, uh, because I wanted to note that the budget advisory commission passed a resolution. Uh and for those who are looking for it, it is AIM 146 2026. Um, and it was on our September 15th agenda. So uh with that, I'll turn it to Mr. Mills. Go ahead. Yeah, thank you. We had a good meeting last week. We are like you getting into the budget cycle. Um we heard from OMB Director Browse on the 120 day memo and where that stands. Um the only other thing I will note is that I have been working with member Scout. Um, she has expressed the intent to hold a couple town halls in the district one area for the budget cycle to get public input and feedback and has invited myself as the chair to present a little bit about the budget advisory commission and some background on the budget and how that works. So I'm looking forward to working with her and potentially Vice Chair Volland on that. Okay, great. Um, and uh as I said, I know we don't have the details in front of us, but would you like to uh discuss uh the resolution that you guys passed as well? Yeah, thank you. Um the bulk of the resolution I would I would classify as encouraging communication and engagement with the community. We think that's very important to the budget process and building consensus and developing a vision of what the budget should be.