Monday nights work session was one of the most productive budget work session I have attended in this city. The city managers revised Budget Introduction was well put, input and questions from the council and the audience, thank you Mayor Corbridge for allowing public input, was well thought out and presented. This was a good start, however there is a long way to go, and as the budget is probed deeper it is apparent that more time is needed to finalize the administrations revenue plans, answer questions posed by the council/their recommendations into consideration.

After listening to the Parks & Recreation Director praise the self support of the teen and the teen center, while being very vague about the rest of the department budget, I strongly agree with Councilmember Valdatta, further review of the Parks & Recreation budget is necessary.

Again, every time mention was made of cuts in the budget, the response of the administration was “what services to cut”. I find it very hard to believe that there are no administrative cuts that can be made without cutting services, there may not be much, but every dollar counts. While some consolidation of services and out sourcing was identified, other items, such as transferring two mechanics to the Electric Utility Enterprise fund appear to be counter productive – how long will it be before the one remaining city shop mechanic will require assistance and another position will be required? Many projects involving repair of heavy equipment cannot be b performed safely by one person. How about leaving the mechanics as they are and charging out their time to specific projects?

As for the stated obligation of reserve funds; $8.7 million for the replacement of generators, a new building and switch gear ?? If Seward was generating its own electricity 24/7 like may communities in Alaska that could be justified – were not! This is an emergency back-up power system; containerized power units, with appropriate switch gear that do not require their own building are available for approximately $150K per megawatt that would more than suffice the needs of the city – we don’t need a Cadillac – a basic Chevrolet will do the job.

The City Manager had great fore sight is suggesting a review of leasing vs. buying vehicles – how about taking that a couple of steps further; do we need the ever increasing number of vehicles the city has?; and how about utilizing basic vehicles without the options that many of our city vehicles now have?

Remember – ITS YOUR MONEY ! GET INVOLVED OR DON’T COMPLAIN !