Assembly Report for November 13, 2007

THE ASSEMBLY GETS AN EARFUL AS THE PUBLIC WEIGHS IN (AGAIN) ON THE BUDGET: Buying more time to battle Mayor Mark Begich’s proposed operating budget for 2008-8, Assembly conservatives reopened public hearings Tuesday night. They got an earful but it was not exactly what they wanted to hear. Two dozen people testified generally in favor of retaining current municipal programs and services, and opposed an ongoing effort by Assembly member Dan Coffey to cut some $25M from the mayor’s budget. Public hearings have now concluded; the budget is now scheduled for action on November 27, 2007.

The centerpiece of Dan Coffey’s effort to field dress the Mayor’s budget remains a "draft" resolution he and a shadowy gang of assembly conservatives cooked up during a series of private meetings held recently in city hall. Assembly members Coffey and Starr paid Cheryl Frasca $18,000 to build a case, any case, against this mayor’s budget. In the process, Coffey has managed to shoot himself in both feet and final approval of the 2008 budget is still two weeks away.

Coffey first took his first shot by letting freshman Assemblyman Bill Starr of Eagle River to launch a bitter attack against salaries paid to city hall executives during a nasty work session held on November 2, 2007. Starr dutifully railed on what he considered excessive raises given by the mayor to his staff which had not been approved by the Assembly. Coffey’s resolution carried on that theme and would require prior assembly approval of all executive salaries. What Starr and Coffey overlooked, however, are city codes which give the mayor the right to adjust executive compensation without any assembly approval. Moreover, when full cost data for city wages paid to employees was released on November 9th, personnel costs hardly appeared "excessive" as claimed by Starr: total wages, including those represented by new positions, went up 1% in 2004, 7% in 2005, 7% in 2006, 2% in 2007, and are projected to rise 7% in 2008. The salary issue backfired when it was revealed that under "conservative" assembly leadership, City Clerk Barbara Gruenstein was given three raises and now receives $109,990/year. Her last raise in 2007 was a real whopper: $22,010, or 25%.

Now hobbling on one foot, Coffey took aim at his other foot by going after the mayor’s calculations of so called "vacancy factor" in the city’s budget. Coffey announced in his draft resolution plans to cut some $6M from personnel costs in 14 departments. That figure represents amounts the city would not spend due to absences of municipal employees as a result of normal attrition. Looks good on the surface, but what Coffey apparently failed to consider is that in projecting personnel costs in his 2008 budget, the mayor had already made a reduction of $7.3M for expected vacancies. As the mayor has patiently explained now several times, further reductions in "vacancy factor" made by the Assembly will turn full time employees into part time employees and reduce existing city services.

With two weeks remaining until final action is scheduled on the budget, Mr. Coffey decided to leave town. In Coffey’s absence, Mr. Starr in now back charge of Assembly deliberations on the budget.