Council works on budget adjustments
The Nome Common Council passed in first reading budget amendments for the FY 2025 budgets of various city and port of Nome funds.
The proposed amended budget of the city’s general fund brings the city’s adjusted FY25 budget to $18,740, 791 with a budget adjustment increase of over $927,000 over the approved FY25 budget of $17,813,567.
According to a detailed memo from Nickie Crowe, the city’s finance director, revenue from sales tax and remote sellers sales tax has decreased by $21,500, but the income from the hotel and motel tax has increased by $30,000. Other notable increases were $52, 515 earned from a surplus sale in the fall and fund balance appropriations for two police vehicle and one administrative vehicle purchases. On the spending side, the salary and benefit budget decreased by $335,562 due to vacant positions, despite wage increases driven following the collective bargaining agreement. On the administrative side, a significant increase of legal fees in the sum of $20,000 was noted. Acting City Manager and City Clerk Dan Grimmer explained that the increase is due to the fact that in the absence of an experienced city manager he is consulting with lawyers when doing contracts on the city’s behalf. An increase in operating costs in the amount of $220,211 was noted, including rental for a city manager’s apartment ($21,100), $36,500 for City Manager recruitment efforts, rentals for police ($23,500), $18,000 for Public Works building storage (which will be reimbursed by the insurance as this results from a fire at the Public Works building two years ago); $25,000 for the new Iditarod Burled Arch, $26,000 for chemicals and IT upgrades for the pool.
The school bond fund budget was adjusted to increase by $471,723, including a 70 percent reimbursement by the State of Alaska for the ACSA restroom remodeling. The council continued to discuss to use these funds for a needed ADA/Security upgrade at both Nome-Beltz and Nome Elementary School campuses. The project was estimated to cost $328,000 but bids came back at $600,000. The school bond fund is the city’s account to help fund school capital projects. The city has yet to decide whether to fully fund the ADA/Security upgrades as the school district has signaled it cannot pitch in. Council member Scot Henderson floated the idea to begin negotiating with the school district to contribute to the project.
The council also passed into second reading the capital projects fund, the Nome special revenue fund budget, the construction capital projects fund, the Port of Nome fund budget and the Port of Nome Capital Projects fund.
A public hearing and discussion before final passage will take place at the next council meeting on March 24.
In other business, the council approved a resolution to keep City Clerk Dan Grimmer as acting city manager as the city still is looking to fill that position. Grimmer gave an update on the search, saying that the executive search firm hired to find a city manager has received 26 applications, which they narrowed down to a handful of applicants. Grimmer said a subcommittee should go through these applications and determine how many candidates to bring to Nome for an in-person interview. If all goes well, the interviews could be done in March, with a potential offer being extended to a successful candidate in April.
In public comment, the council heard from Rodney Jones, owner of Checker Cab, who thanked the council for forgiving interest and penalties on the sales taxes he owed. However, he expressed his complains about the inconsistencies of different city administrations. At issue for him operating the only cab service in Nome is that he is out of compliance with getting his vehicles inspected by a third party mechanic. He stated past city managers have allowed him to perform the inspections himself, as he does anyway. By ordinance, the Nome Police Chief needs to approve the shop that does cab inspections. Currently authorized mechanic shops are TSR and Farley’s Automotive, according to Grimmer. Jones also pointed out that other operators that are in the business of public transportation, such as hospital patient drivers and other community transportation vans are not held to the same standard as he is operating his cab business. City Clerk Dan Grimmer told the council he had been doing his best to assist Mr. Jones, but noted a disconnect between what he’s told by RJ and a third party mechanic who stands ready to perform said inspections.
Council member Henderson picked up on inspection requirement. “If we require the cabs to do annual inspections, shouldn’t we do the same for anybody involved in public transportation,” he asked.
During the second round of public comment, Steve Longley showed up to give his opinion. Longley is offering rides for donations, for his daughter’s cheerleading endeavors. Jones had questioned in his remarks to the council the legality of that. Longley told the council that he would continue to give rides for donations until a court tells him to stop it.
In absence of Mayor John Handeland, council member Mark Johnson chaired the meeting. In attendance were Scot Henderson, Kohren Green, Cameron Piscoya, partially Maggie Miller. Absent and excused was Adam Martinson and he mayor.
The next council meeting will take place on March 24, as meetings during Iditarod are canceled.