Haines Borough staff present FY27 area-wide budget; manager recommends $2.66M for schools and $190K fund-balance use

Staff presented the manager's proposed FY27 area-wide general fund budget at a Haines Borough assembly session, highlighting a modest town-site mill-rate reduction, a larger seasonal sales-tax share of revenue and a manager recommendation to spend $190,000 of the borough's fund balance.

Presenter (name not given) described the area-wide fund as "the largest of all of our funds," saying it comprises about 42% of borough operating revenues and pays for services including the school district, administration, finance, dispatch, parks, the pool, the museum and elections. The presenter said the manager's draft compares FY26 and FY27 mills and cautioned the figures are a "draft" that the assembly can review and change.

On mill rates, staff cited a town-site mill decrease—the presenter said, "That's a decrease of, 0.82 mills or 8%" compared with FY26. Staff attributed the change largely to higher projected summer sales-tax revenue resulting from a voter-approved seasonal sales tax, noting that the FY27 manager's budget projects about $1,100,000 in sales-tax revenue for the area-wide fund.

The manager's budget proposes using $190,000 of fund balance in FY27 and projects roughly $3.6 million in reserves at the end of the next fiscal year. "This budget is proposing to spend a $190,000 of fund balance," the presenter said while reviewing the transfers and the permanent-fund offset that helps reduce property-tax burdens.

On schools, the assembly heard that the school district requested $2,860,000; the manager's recommendation is $2,660,000. Staff (speaking as manager's presenter) said, "the school district is requesting $2,860,000, and my proposed budget has them receiving $2,660,000, which is $200,000 less than what they have requested." Discussion focused on differing definitions of the state's funding "cap" and whether activities were being counted into the cap calculation; staff indicated the borough is under both the state's and the district's interpretations.

Staff also flagged several program-level changes: a roughly 2% across-the-board payroll increase tied to the ongoing collective-bargaining agreement (applied to nonbargaining CFO and clerk positions by manager direction); an ADA compliance line of about $10,000 to update the borough website; increased IT subscription and cybersecurity costs; and a small professional-services line for an assembly planning-session facilitator (roughly $4,700—$5,000). Public facilities increases were driven by a $7,000 snow-plowing appropriation for the Mosquito Lake facility and required sprinkler inspections this year.

Museum and museum-related funding were discussed: staff said the museum requested about $239,000 and the manager recommended approximately $168,005, noting the borough still pays a past-service PERS contribution tied to earlier employment relationships even though the museum's staff are no longer borough employees. The assembly invited a museum representative (Brandon) to explain that the borough appropriation supports contract staff, utilities, IT and other facility costs under the existing memorandum of agreement.

The session was a presentation and Q&A; the assembly did not take formal votes on the manager's recommendations during this meeting. Staff said further review and adjustments are expected before the assembly adopts final FY27 figures.