Anchorage Daily News

Mayor Dan Sullivan on Friday unveiled a $421 million operating budget that focuses city spending next year on putting out fires, jailing criminals and plowing snow off the streets. He also promised to end the series of "rolling closures" of firetrucks and engine companies that have troubled firefighters all year.

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But the budget proposal the mayor handed the Anchorage Assembly at a midday meeting would eliminate 192 jobs -- 154 full-time positions, and another 38 part-time and temporary jobs.

It's $13 million lower than the 2009 budget passed last year, and about $2 million lower than even the pared-down budget that survived a year of deficit-inspired cuts.

It follows through on Sullivan's campaign pledge to reduce city spending and hold taxes down, although the mayor wants to increase the amount of property taxes collected by almost $6 million, up to a total of about $238 million.

Cheryl Frasca, Sullivan's budget director, said that this year's tax levy would have been higher than $238 million if city officials hadn't used $18 million in state funding to offset property taxes.

Sullivan wants to use the $15 million he expects the city to get from the state next year to pay for services instead.

Most of the 2010 job cuts in his proposal, the mayor said in interviews, will hit non-public safety services like libraries and parks, clerical and support functions, and middle-management jobs. Many are currently vacant, Sullivan said. Exactly how many workers would be laid off couldn't be determined immediately.

UNIONS REACT

A quick review of the inch-plus-thick budget proposal shows most agencies losing at least a few positions. It's hard to compare the change for some departments because Sullivan reorganized the government last summer.

Libraries, for example, were part of a big city department last year. This year, libraries are a stand-alone agency with a proposed budget reduction of about $400,000. Libraries would lose 14 jobs under Sullivan's proposal, and work hours would be reduced for another five positions.

The parks department would lose at least 23 positions, the fire department 20 non-firefighter jobs, and the police department 27 positions, including 18 unfilled sworn-officer jobs.

Police Sgt. Derek Hsieh, union president for the Anchorage Police Department Employees Association, said his understanding is that six police employees will be laid off, including three members of the union. But Hsieh said Sullivan has the right idea in using money the city gets from the state to pay for services instead of tax relief. "It's the best way to do it," he said.

Fire union president Tom Wescott said he's heard "bits and pieces, some positive," about the budget but is waiting to study it when the city posts it online. "It's positive to hear the rolling closures are going to stop," Wescott said, but he's heard that the 20-position fire department swing includes four actual layoffs.

At the afternoon meeting Friday, Assemblyman Bill Starr asked Sullivan how he thinks unions will respond: "Does this set us up for any labor controversies?"

"We don't believe so," the mayor said, adding that department heads were heavily involved in putting together the spending plan.

Assemblywoman Elvi Gray-Jackson said she liked several elements of Sullivan's budget, including a move to save about $12.5 million this year by refinancing some bond debt.

FIRES, CRIMES, ROADS

In remarks to the Assembly, Sullivan said he wants to put city money where services hit the road -- on-the-street public safety positions in the police and fire department, and keep maintenance workers on the job.

He said he wants to "reduce the level of violent crime ... (and) loss of life and property from fire." He said he also wants to address problems of, and caused by, the homeless and chronic inebriates.

Sullivan and his finance executives cast the coming year's budget as the end of a 10-year trend that has seen the city's population increase by 4.5 percent and property taxes rise by 36 percent. Much of the additional spending, Sullivan said, expanded the police and fire departments, and he said he thinks that was a good idea.

But the mayor's numbers show the city's economy flattening in 2010: employment trending down and then stabilizing after decades of growth, fewer people moving in, around a 3 percent drop in assessed property values, and a continued decline in tourism next year.

LOOKING AHEAD

Sullivan's first year as mayor begins as a series of five-year labor contracts with several city unions take effect. Most of those unions agreed to delay wage increases scheduled for this year as the city's economy was buffeted by the national economic credit and stock market crisis. But Sullivan's projections show the contracts carry high costs and create shortfalls for years to come.

If the city did nothing, the mayor said, deficits of more than $35 million annually might develop by 2012 and 2013. Instead, Sullivan wants to restructure and shrink government now, which he said should help keep costs and property taxes under control in coming years.

"In the do-nothing scenario, we are a essentially a city that is broke" in a few years, he said in an interview.

Friday's meeting starts six weeks of work sessions and public hearings as Assembly members pick through Sullivan's spending ideas and most likely contribute some of their own. The schedule calls for a vote on Nov. 17, but under the city charter the deadline for budget passage is 21 days before the end of the year.

Job cuts, less spending

192 positions eliminated; some are currently unfilled.

$420.7 million proposed spending for 2010, down $1.7 million from this year.

Emphasis on streets, police and fire protection over parks and libraries.

$238.2 million in property taxes for 2010, up $5.8 million from this year.

How to get involved Anchorage Assembly public hearings on the proposed budget: Oct. 27 and Nov. 3, in the Assembly Chambers, Loussac Library, 3600 Denali St., Room 108.

Assembly work sessions on the budget: Oct. 9, Oct. 16, Oct. 23 and Nov. 13, in City Hall, 632 W. Sixth Ave.

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