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Anchorage Budget PassesSeveral threatened items survive assembly voteRelated Content
ANCHORAGE - A few months ago, the city faced a $30 million budget shortfall. Tuesday night, the Anchorage Assembly passed a $475 million budget with fewer cuts than expected. Mayor Dan Sullivan says people won't notice a disruption in city services and programs next year -- though department heads were faced with tough decisions in order to balance their budgets. There was a little relief with an additional $7 million available from property taxes collected in the spring of this year. That's on top of an additional $12 million that originally would've gone to the Anchorage School District, but due to recent changes in state law, can be spent elsewhere. Fire Department One of the big concerns was the potential closure of Fire Station 15 - which services the Southport Drive area. Station 15 will remain open and fully funded. Truck 11 in Eagle River was also saved from the chopping block but the Anchorage Firefighters Union says Tender 9 -- a special truck that takes water to emergencies where there are no fire hydrants -- is not fully funded next year. "It’s a single driver driving a water tender to an emergency, so not a particularly expensive apparatus to keep open, so it was discouraging that we weren't able to keep that open through the entire year,” said Nick Glorioso with the Anchorage Firefighters Union. Tender 9 at Huffman will be taken offline on days when the AFD is short-staffed. “There is not one single piece of equipment within the AFD or within the Anchorage area that is expendable,” said Glorioso. Tasers The Anchorage Assembly also dedicated $300,000 for the Anchorage Police Department to buy new tasers. Chief Mark Mew says around 60 new tasers will be bought and old ones replaced. When the purchases are made, two-thirds of officers on patrol will be carrying a taser. Mew says he wants to continue to be ‘conservative’ with the rollout of tasers so that proper training of officers is completed. "So that's why we didn't just throw open the door and say “hey tasers for everybody” and just hand them all out,” said Chief Mew. Mew is also being cautious about public perception of tasers. "I'm not implying that there's anything wrong with them; what I'm saying is that it's been controversial technology around the country." Youth Court The Anchorage Youth Court was going to lose 40 percent of its operating budget under Mayor Sullivan’s budget proposal. But the assembly decided to reinstate the $205,000 for next year. The funding is "one time only" -- and Wednesday, Mayor Sullivan announced he wants to transfer the financial responsibility from the municipality to the state under the Division of Juvenile Justice. And there's good news for people who use the bus system on Sunday: People Mover will not be cutting Sunday service. |
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AK7 said on Sunday, Dec 2 at 1:10 AM
Police with tasers in a state which almost everyone has a gun. Taser to a gun fight! Seems like pepper spray would do the same thing. Take the person out without killing them. What about cutting back on the number of police cars we have. In my neighborhood there are at least 7 police cars sitting in driveways all night. Why are we paying for the police's ride to and from work? With the price of gas and maintenance, make them drive he or her own car to work like the rest of us. If so many are driving the cars home we must have too many!
108076026You left off said on Wednesday, Nov 14 at 11:36 PM
A bunch more useless spending, library, or should I say day care center? How many people checked out a book last year? Cut, Cut and shut down.
106647156Youth court said on Wednesday, Nov 14 at 11:33 PM
Waste of money, you do the crime do the time let an adult decide. If youth were smart enough to stay out of trouble on their own they wouldn't need a feel good expense like this.
106647091Zero dollars said on Wednesday, Nov 14 at 11:31 PM
"$300,000 for tasers" well it cost nothing to teach the APD not to shoot a person with a broom or a bb gun first and ask questions later. Simple back off for a min don't cause more harm than good, or shoot a bullet in the dirtbag and let Darwin theory work. stop spending.
106647051Umm NO said on Wednesday, Nov 14 at 11:27 PM
"One of the big concerns was the potential closure of Fire Station 15 " No, no that is not a big concern. Let the structures burn to the ground, they will anyway, or close too burning to the ground to the point that anything inside anyone cared about would be gone anyway by the time the fire dept showed up. Shut down the fire dept city wide and just buy a new house for the home owner, a lot cheaper than keeping the fire dept open.
106646906Great said on Wednesday, Nov 14 at 11:17 PM
Now housing is even less affordable than before, but its only $150 per house. Stop spending my money of BS and cut, cut, cut. Let everyone be able to afford to buy a home instead of rent (which the tax costs get passed onto anyhow) and cut the budget. City sales tax at 90% and let the entire community feel the pain not just the tax payers.
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