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[Immediately followed by Assembly Finance Committee Meeting]
Submitted By:
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Katie Koester, City Manager
We would like to acknowledge that the City & Borough of Juneau is on Tlingit land, and wish to honor the indigenous people of this land. For more than ten thousand years, Alaska Native people have been and continue to be integral to the well-being of our community. We are grateful to be in this place, a part of this community, and to honor the culture, traditions, and resilience of the Tlingit people. Gunalchéesh!
Public Request for Consent Agenda Changes, Other than Ordinances for Introduction
Assembly Request for Consent Agenda Changes
Assembly Action
This ordinance authorizes the sale of $22.75 million of general obligation bonds as authorized by voters in the October 1, 2024 municipal election. Per the authorizing ballot measure, $12.75 million of bond funds will be used for the improvement of public safety communication infrastructure, including, but not limited to, replacing the outdated communication system with a system that will be Alaska Land Mobile Radio compliant. $10 million of bond funds will be used for the replacement of the wastewater clarifier building at the Juneau Douglas Treatment Plant that services Thane, Downtown, and Douglas. The bonds will be fully repaid within ten years at an expected annual cost of approximately $12,750,000 million and $10,000,000 million for the public safety communication infrastructure and wastewater clarifier building bonds, respectively. Issuance of these bonds will not increase the debt service mill rate from its current level.
The City Manager recommends this ordinance be introduced and set for public hearing at the next regular Assembly meeting.
This ordinance would appropriate $12.75 million of general obligation bond proceeds for the Public Safety Communication Infrastructure Capital Improvement Project. This project would provide for the acquisition and installation of a replacement radio communication system. This is an FY26 appropriation to align with the timing of bond issuance.
This appropriation of project funding is consistent with the intent of the $12.75 million general obligation bond package approved by voters in the October 1, 2024 municipal election.
The City Manager recommends this ordinance be introduced and set for public hearing at the next regular Assembly meeting.
This ordinance establishes the mill rates for property taxes for 2025, which funds a significant portion of the City and Borough of Juneau’s FY26 operating budget. The Charter requires the Assembly to adopt, by ordinance, the tax levies necessary to fund the budget before June 15.
The mill levies presented in this ordinance support the Manager’s FY26 Revised Budget that will be reviewed by the Assembly Finance Committee (AFC). As part of the budget review process, the AFC reviews, amends and recommends to the Assembly the final mill levies.
For FY26, the operating mill rate is proposed to increase 0.15 mills for a total proposed mill levy of 10.19 mills, the components of which are:
FY2026 Proposed Mill Rate
Areawide: 6.35 (an increase of 0.15 from FY25 Adopted)
Roaded Service Area: 2.45 (flat from FY25 Adopted)
Fire Service Area: 0.31 (flat from FY25 Adopted)
Debt Service: 1.08 (flat from FY25 Adopted)
Total FY26 Proposed Mill Rate: 10.19 (an increase of 0.15 from FY25 Adopted)
An opportunity for public comment on the proposed mill rate will be provided during the Special Assembly meeting on April 30, 2025.
The City Manager recommends holding the charter required public hearing for this ordinance, followed by referral back to the Assembly Finance Committee for further review.
This ordinance will appropriate to the School District an FY26 operating budget of $94,977,500. This is an overall increase in the budget of $9,580,100 from the FY25 Amended Budget. The FY26 school budget is supported with a combination of funding sources including CBJ local funding of $37,044,700 and state and federal funding of $49,011,800. The local funding consists of $35,004,700 for general operations and $2,040,000 for programs and activities not subject to the state funding cap.
State statute requires the Assembly to determine the total amount of local educational funding support to be provided and provide notification of the support to the School Board within 30 days of the School District's budget submission. To meet this timing provision, it is necessary for the Assembly to determine the amount of funding and provide notice in the month of April. This amount cannot subsequently be reduced, unless the amount exceeds the State funding cap, but it can be increased. If the Assembly does not set the amount and furnish the School Board with notice within 30 days, the amount requested by the School District is automatically approved. By Charter, the Assembly is required to appropriate the School District's budget no later than May 31, 2025.
On April 30, 2025, a meeting is scheduled for the Assembly to state, by motion, the amount of local funding to be provided to the School District.
The City Manager recommends holding the charter required public hearing for this ordinance, followed by a motion to set the amount of minimum local funding to be provided to the school district, and then referral of the ordinance back to the Assembly Finance Committee for additional review.
This ordinance appropriates $536,715,800 in expenditure authority for the City and Borough of Juneau's FY26 operating budget, excluding the School District. This ordinance appropriates all transfers between funds that support operations, debt service and capital projects as well as the associated expenditures within the funds themselves.
This ordinance also recognizes $517,079,600 of forecast revenue and transfers-in and decreases fund balances, across all funds, by $19,636,200. The forecast revenue and draw from fund balance are sufficient to fund the budgeted expenditures. Budgeted expenditures and revenues will be reviewed in detail with the Finance Committee during the budget process in April and May.
The Charter requires that a public hearing be held on the FY26 operating budget by May 1, 2025, and the ordinance be adopted by June 15, 2025.
The City Manager recommends holding the charter required public hearing for this ordinance, followed by referral back to the Assembly Finance Committee for further review.
This resolution would adopt the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for Fiscal Years 2026 through 2031, as required by Charter Section 9.4, and lists the capital projects that will be initially appropriated by ordinance in FY26.
The Public Works and Facilities Committee reviewed the preliminary CIP at its March 17, 2025 meeting and forwarded the plan to the Assembly.
The City Manager recommends holding the charter required public hearing for this resolution, followed by referral back to the Assembly Finance Committee for further review.
ADA accommodations available upon request: Please contact the Clerk's office 36 hours prior to any meeting so arrangements can be made for closed captioning or sign language interpreter services depending on the meeting format. The Clerk's office telephone number is 586-5278, e-mail: city.clerk@juneau.gov.