Juneau Common Council Adopts 2019 Budget

(Juneau) The Juneau Common Council adopted their 2019 budget Tuesday night. The $9.1-million-dollar document includes a tax levy of $1.37-million dollars, which is up $64-thousand dollars from the 2018 budget. Juneau residents will see an increase in the mill rate for the city portion of their taxes. The $9.53-per-thousand-dollar tax rate is 18-cents higher than the number homeowners saw last December. Equalized property values are up slightly.

Health insurance costs decreased with the typical family policy seeing a $20 monthly reduction in premium costs. The budget includes a three-percent pay increase for the city’s 35 employees, which has budget impacts of around $5000.

The budget as adopted has a tax levy that is $400-thousand dollars higher than the preliminary budget as published. Mayor Dan Wegener says that money is earmarked for as of yet unidentified road projects. The budget includes capital purchases totaling $55-thousand-dollars which includes $33-thousand dollars for public works for lawn mowers, a Bobcat and a tractor lease and $8000 for turnout gear and portable radios for the fire department. The funding for those items is coming from unspent monies from 2017 borrowing.