The Wrangell Borough Assembly held another budget workshop last week, Wednesday, June 3. In this meeting the assembly briefly reviewed a looming budget deficit in the borough's general fund. They also looked at a variety of department budgets that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, are anticipating reduced revenues. Among these are the Transient Tax and CPV budget, the Nolan Center, and Parks and Recreation.
As reported in previous articles regarding these budget workshops, the City and Borough of Wrangell is facing a deficit in their general fund for FY 2021, of about $516,516, not including costs for any capital improvement projects. While reduced revenues do not help the situation, Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen said that city administration is taking some steps to reduce the deficit.
"Things are still a little bit in flux as to what the total deficit will be for the general fund, because we're still going through budgets and reviewing things," she said.
A portion of Secure Rural Schools funds, that the city has the option to use for street repairs, were not put in the FY 2020 budget for unknown reasons, she said. As such, she said they were taking the FY 2020 and 2021 allocations out, dropping the deficit by approximately $122,000. Additionally, the borough will be saving about $20,000 in wage differences from the parks and recreation pool temp worker wages. Work is still ongoing, Von Bargen said, but the deficit is shrinking.
With the review of the general fund deficit out of the way, the assembly moved on to discuss their next round of department budgets.
"Revenues for the Nolan Center and Parks & Recreation have been reduced significantly to account for the loss of cruise ships this summer and potential loss of some P&R programming this summer," reads a cover letter in the workshop's agenda packet. "Transient Tax and Commercial Passenger Vessel Tax revenues have also been decreased significantly to account for no cruise ship traffic this summer and less independent travel."
Wrangell is only anticipating $30,000 to come in via Transient Taxes and Convention and Visitors Bureau next year. This is a decrease from year-to-date revenues of $59,967. Meanwhile expenses are anticipated to be $71,516. This will shrink the CVB's reserves from approximately $135,501 at the beginning of FY 2021 to $93,985 at the end of FY 2021.
According to the agenda packet, Wrangell is also expecting only $5,000 in revenue via the Commercial Passenger Vessel tax, down from $58,660 in year-to-date revenues FY 2020. However, they are only anticipating $1,500 in expenses, for bump out maintenance along Front Street. The CPV Tax Share Fund is expected to grow slightly next year, from roughly $293,000 to about $297,000.
The city will also be using a portion of the Marian Glenz Memorial Fund this next year. About $18,165 will be spent on a contract with Truly360. This will leave a fund balance of a little over $13,000, Von Bargen said.
The Nolan Center is also anticipating reduced revenues next year. The community's museum, civic center, and movie theater are anticipating about $84,000 in revenue, down from $111,784 in FY 2020's year-to-date revenues, but expenses are estimated at $585,577. Expenses are slightly higher than FY 2020's year-to-date of $522,300, but are lower than this year's approved expenses of $660,346. The majority of costs are administrative, according to the budget, estimated at $248,891. Museum expenses are estimated at $75,320. Civic center expenses are estimated at $61,673. Movie theater expenses are estimated at $90,022.
The extra costs, according to the draft budget, are planned to be covered by transfers from the general fund, investments, and the Transient Tax fund. This way, the Nolan Center will end the financial year with a net balance of zero.
"Obviously without the cruise ship season we've reduced the staff significantly," Nolan Center Director Cyni Crary said.
The parks and recreation department budget is also facing a deficit. The swimming pool is estimated to only bring in a little over $56,000 next year, compared to $150,701 year-to-date. Parks are actually expecting to bring in a little more revenue this year, $4,000 compared to $3,115 year-to-date. Recreation is also expecting to bring in about $23,000 in revenue, compared to $19,717 year-to-date. However, the total department is anticipating a deficit of about $860,000 next year. Parks and Rec Director Kate Thomas went into a little more detail about the anticipated FY 2021 budget.
"We're well aware that the numbers have increased over the past five years, and that sort of supports the trajectory of growth that we're on," she said. "The budget has an increase in expenditures obviously, and that can mainly be attributed to a thorough presentation of the facility repair and maintenance needs of the department. Projects and purchases that have not been finalized in FY 20, once the pandemic hit, have been either reprioritized or we haven't spent that money and will not. Any discrepancies you can see in the budget, if the actuals don't match up, or there seems to be some odd things going on, it can probably be attributed to last year's restructuring of accounts."
The Irene Ingle Public Library is facing total expenses of $259,236 in FY 2021. This is a step back from this year's approved expenses of $303,441, but is more in line with year-to-date expenses of $229,320. According to the agenda packet, the library is built off of two permanent staff positions. A third position for a library technician, currently unfilled, will remain vacant next year.
The assembly also looked at a brand new department budget, "Economic Development - Planning & Zoning." According to the agenda packet, this combines the wages and program expenses for the Economic Development Department with the Planning and Zoning Department. This was to better represent all of the community and economic development budget items managed by Wrangell's Economic Development Director, Carol Rushmore.
This department is looking at expenses of $169,749. The majority of this comes from personnel costs of $129,016. The assembly questioned a $20,000 expense for tourism industry expenses, which was roughly $10,000 higher than was allocated FY 2020. Rushmore explained that it has always been a $20,000 allocation, the funds were just now combined from different areas of the budget into one line item.
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