Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson announced his budget vetoes to the expanded budget of the Anchorage Assembly.
The mayor’s 2023 budget of $583 million was delivered in October and proposed staying under the tax cap by $4.8 million, with an overall increase of about 3% from the 2022 revised budget.
The Assembly drove the budget higher with additions, passing an additional $3.6 million and bringing the spending to just $1.2 million beneath the tax cap. The Assembly ended up passing the largest budget in Anchorage history.
Bronson’s vetoed items include spending for the Brother Francis Shelter to increase its capacity to shelter homeless. The mayor says that the shelter has already said it will not be expanding.
Here are the vetoed items:
- Dunbar & Quinn-Davidson Amendment #8 Alcohol Tax Omnibus – Alcohol Tax. – $150,000, Legislative, Technical assistance for Alcohol Tax grant application process. The mayor cited separation of powers issues involved with this appropriation.
- $445,000, Health, Annual basis to allow for a permanent increase of single adult shelter capacity: Brother Francis Shelter. The mayor said that Brother Francis Shelter management has stated it would stick with its 120-person capacity and therefore would not be able to increase shelter services.
- Dunbar & Quinn-Davidson Amendment #8 GG Omnibus – General Government: $730,000, Health, Annual basis to allow for a permanent increase of single adult shelter capacity: Brother Francis Shelter. The mayor said Brother Francis Shelter has said it has a 120-person capacity and will not be expanding.
- $44,072, Legislative, Security contract for Assembly. The mayor wrote: “This amendment identifies $65,000 for security contract for assembly, however, pursuant to the terms of the current contract with Securitas, the annual cost for security at assembly meetings is $20,928 of which the Maintenance & Operations department currently pays. Therefore I am reducing the amendment from $65,000 to $20,928 a difference of $44072 which is over and above the amount necessary to pay the cost of security for assembly meetings.”
- ($730,000), Health, Non labor budget for homelessness. The mayor wrote: “While I support the efforts of the Brother Francis Shelter and the work, they provide to compassionately address those individuals experiencing homelessness, Brother Francis Shelter will not be able to comply with the terms as stated in this amendment. The organization has expressly stated that they are committed to sticking to their 120-client capacity for the foreseeable future.”
- ($65,000), Maintenance & Operations, Reduce security contract funds. The mayor stated that “the current contract with Securitas, the annual cost for security at assembly meetings is $20,928, of which the Maintenance & Operations department currently pays. Therefore, I am reducing the amendment from $65,000 to $20,928, which is over and above the amount necessary to pay the cost of security for assembly meetings.”
The Mayor’s veto message can be seen on this link: Vetoes of AO 2022-87 as Amended.
The budget is not all of the spending by the city. There is additional spending that gets around the tax cap by the use of bonds and spending items that the voters approve during elections. If voters approve a capital budget expenditure, the operations for that expenditure are not included in the tax cap.
The Assembly does not care about the taxpayer. They try to break the law on a continuing basis. Do for them and not for us.
Uh oh. Fireworks coming. Which leftist going to boom first.
Good vetoes. Too bad the assembly will just override the mayor. Dedicating money for a facility that has already said they don’t plan to expand makes zero sense.
Makes you wonder where that money will actually end up? Maybe in the pocket of Liberal Assembly members? Isn’t one of these members also a CEO for a homeless non-profit?
Zalatel can’t have her rice bowl tipped over!
I don’t see where they funded Margarita and space blanket night in January or February. That’s a travesty from all angles. Mr. Trudeau says it’d be a win/win.
The people of Anchorage will be better off when the limp wristed community finds a more practical cause than spending OPM on bums. The reward for getting good at handling bums is more of them.
And to Mr. Bronson:
Very nicely done, Sir. Shame that you had to do a bunch of homework on proposals from others that they themselves avoided entirely before drafting. It does bring to mind the slogan our friends at the Westboro Baptist church are so fond of though. I always thought it was based on their behavior but it might have been targeted at personality traits and we just didn’t know it.
and the vetos are overridden
Are you paying attention Dunleavy? This is how it’s done.
Thank you Mayor for listening to the people of the land. We can’t afford this cantankerous, oppositional assembly. We cannot eliminate their fear of the people’s will whom they actually oppose and therefor seek to dispossess (we are on to them by and large) not inky of parking spaces but everything the people own in accordance with foreign, non-Alaskan desire for Alaskan possession(s) to date.
Hmm, I wonder where the funds for Brother Fancis Shelter will go towards, if/when the Assembly overrides the Mayor’s vetoes…Again.
They take control over what isn’t theirs to take. They lie, cheat, steal, destroy….
We all need to pray that these Anti-For the People, Anti-Anchorage and Anti-America, will be removed…Permanently. ?
Prayers for you and for Anchorage, Mayor Bronson.
Is this a firable offense?
This 1.3 million for Brother Francis is just further largesse appropriated to a “non-profit” in order to be ghosted into the appropriate pockets. The assembly has become blatant in their theft of the taxpayer’s money.
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