Docks and Harbors presents FY27 budget, warns of lost marine and fish-tax revenue as major projects loom

Docks and Harbors officials presented the FY27 budgets to the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly finance committee on March 18, saying both the docks and harbors enterprises currently operate with revenues exceeding expenditures but will face significant capital demands and a temporary shift in revenues.

Harbour Master Matt Cresswell said the docks enterprise projects roughly $5.8 million in budgeted activity for FY27, and the department expects a contribution of about $692,000 to its fund balance for the year. He credited a recent change to dockage fees — which produced a near-doubling of cruise-related revenue late in FY26 — for a temporary spike that produced a transfer of about $2,464,000 from the docks enterprise to support CBJ (City and Borough of Juneau) operations.

"Once again our revenues exceed our expenditures," Cresswell said, but added that the fee changes and a separate decision to divert some state-shared revenue away from the enterprise mean "we won't have the same money we've had before to complete projects and other larger expenditures." He also noted a small staffing reprogramming — a roughly one-hundredth FTE adjustment to convert some part-time limited positions into a…