The Sitka City and Borough Assembly held a special meeting on March 25, 2026, to discuss and take action on the draft FY2027 Administrator's Budget, with a focus on the General Fund. The meeting included a presentation by Finance Director Brooke, detailed deliberation on resource proposals, and votes on several budget-reduction measures. The initial General Fund deficit of $883,250 was reduced by approximately $495,000 through actions taken during the meeting, leaving a remaining deficit of roughly $388,250 to be addressed at a future meeting. The Assembly also voted on harbor rate increases and approved a special emergency grant.
FY2027 General Fund Budget Presentation: Finance Director Brooke presented the draft budget, highlighting a 7.4% drop in sales tax for the most recent quarter compared to the prior year, attributed to decreased luxury spending and compliance challenges. Revenue projections totaled $45.6 million, 4.5% lower than FY26 including transfers. Property tax rose 3%. Health insurance costs were projected to increase by 15% (approximately $500,000), though a recent broker estimate suggested 8% was possible. The draft budget included funding for school support at the maximum allowable level (a $178,000 increase) and full SRS funding ($300,000 increase). The deficit after adjustments stood at $883,250.
Resource Proposal (RP) Cuts: Assembly members debated several resource proposals to reduce the deficit. Mayor Eisenbeisz proposed eliminating two police interceptors ($220,000) and cutting the athletic field sand ($250,000). Deputy Mayor Pike supported reducing by one interceptor but opposed sinking fund deferrals. Assembly Member Riley advocated for scaling back door security ($40,000 to $20,000) and the zoning code update ($65,000 to $50,000). Administrator John Leach presented two packaged options: Option 1 (50/50 SRS split, field sand cut, interceptor cut, sinking fund deferrals for 1–2 year-old vehicles, and $10,000 RP cut) totaling $886,000; Option 2 (75/25 SRS split, same items plus deeper sinking fund deferrals and additional RP cuts) also totaling $886,000.
Harbor Enterprise Fund Rate Increase: A motion to set the harbor rate increase at 0% (as recommended by the Port and Harbors Commission) was debated. Assembly Member Riley noted the fund has significant capital needs and that a 0% increase would be fiscally irresponsible. The motion ultimately failed 3–2, leaving the proposed 4% increase in the budget pending further commission discussion on April 9.
Special Emergency Grant: The Assembly considered a $5,000 grant to the Sitka All-Terrain Riders for snow removal assistance on sidewalks. Multiple members praised the group's volunteer efforts during heavy snowfall.
To our special meeting of Wednesday, March 25th, 2026. Please join me for a flag salute. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. The Assembly of the City and Borough of Sitka would like to respectfully acknowledge the traditional first people of Sheepka. With gratitude, we proceed on Clinketani. Sarah Roll Call, please. Mayor Eisenbais. Mr. Pike. Here. Ms. Carlson. Here. Ms. Riley. Here. Mr. Saline. Here. Mr. Christianson is going to try and join, so he may be late. All right. Well, we'll uh send best wishes to Alaska Airlines. It'll be by Zoom. Oh, well, I hope the internet works then. He's at a conference in Gino, so thank you, Sarah. That'll bring us to persons to be heard. This is public participation for any item off of tonight's agenda, not to exceed three minutes for any individual. See none. So tonight we are gathered to talk about our draft fiscal year 27 budget. I think we have quite a few things to go through tonight, so I will uh just turn it straight over to John and we can jump right in. Thank you, Mayor. Um as you said, we're here to uh talk about the general fund budget tonight. Um you've been uh you've received the draft version of the budget, and I know we've got uh a deficit to work through. Um this is where the hard decisions come in. Um Brooke will have a presentation for us. Uh and but before we jump into the presentation, as with any iteration of budgets, we find um some minor errors along the way, and uh what you've seen for a deficit was uh a bit higher than uh than what we're actually seeing now, so there are a few corrections that have already been incorporated in there, and we'll we'll hear about that in the presentation. But uh just a reminder for everyone we're we're at that point now where any changes to the budget, we would appreciate uh a motion and a vote so we can incorporate those changes. But with that, I'll let Brooke jump in. Okay, good evening. Before I jump into the presentation, I wanted to give kind of a little uh do a little bit of housekeeping. So um the first thing is that um a lot of the information that I put in the narrative for the packet is not gonna be covered during the presentation. Um it was meant to serve primarily as background information or things that would be useful, but I'm I'm not gonna regurgitate some uh a lot of that information. Um the other piece is that there are a couple of differences between what you're gonna see in the presentation and that packet. Um the health insurance one I will explain when we get there. Uh there's a small, there's like a four about a four hundred dollar difference in the sinking fund payment amount. That is um from rounding we did when we entered those numbers into our system. So um, I'm aware that those are in there, and the um the material one I will talk to you about why it looks like that. So, first off, um this is a slide that I've had in some of my presentations before, and and John kind of covered the most important part of it, which is just that at this point um for the assembly to make changes, that should be through a motion.