Juneau residents will be asked to approve spending nearly $23 million for projects including a new communications system for emergency response officials and wastewater treatment plant improvements if approved by the Juneau Assembly for the Oct. 1 municipal election ballot.
The Assembly is scheduled at its July 1 meeting to hear public testimony and consider two ordinances placing the bonds on the ballot. One is a $12.75 million bond to “Finance Public Safety Communication Infrastructure,” the other a $10 million bond to “Finance Wastewater Utility Infrastructure.”
Both are major projects that city leaders have been seeking for some time, City Manager Katie Koester said Monday. The Assembly at its meeting on Monday night approved the introduction of the two draft ordinances without discussion as part of the consent calendar, following reviews of the projects involved during previous meetings.
The Juneau Police Department’s radio system, for example, had a 2014 end-of-life date and officials have been trying for the past couple of years to determine how to fund a replacement and related equipment that could cost in the neighborhood of $22 million. Replacing the system is the second-ranked priority on the city administration’s capital improvement projects list for this year, behind a new City Hall that is already being implemented with a move to the Michael J. Burns Building.
Among the shortcomings of the existing communications system cited by police and other local officials are lack of complete radio coverage throughout the Juneau area, plus no GPS coverage for portable radio or encryption.
“We call it the JPD radio system — and then we realize it’s really about (Capital City Fire/Rescue), it’s about JPD, it’s about communicating with Troopers, it’s about Capital Transit,” Koester said. “So it’s far broader than just the police department.”
Some funding toward the new system would be covered by $6 million in capital improvement project funds already allocated to the city manager’s office, federal funds approved by Congress and some revenue from the city’s temporary 1% sales tax, Koester said. The $12.75 million bond request “is the remainder that is necessary.”
The wastewater bond is being sought due to the need to replace facilities that are up to 50 years old, Koester said. She said the work is particularly time-sensitive since erosion and other damage to wastewater treatment infrastructure presents a public safety risk.
Specified in the draft ordinance is “replacement of the wastewater clarifier building at the Juneau Douglas Wastewater Treatment Plant that services Thane, Downtown and Douglas.”
Also, the bond will prevent additional rate increases to pay for the upgrades, Koester said. A 2% water and sewer rate intended to keep pace with inflation, approved by the Assembly in 2019, is already set to take effect July 1.
“Any ability to use a bond to pay for wastewater infrastructure or water infrastructure is just less that the ratepayers will have to pay,” she said.
Passing both bonds would increase the city’s debt service costs by about $2.75 million a year for the 10-year life of the bonds, which would equate to an annual property tax levy of about $42 per $100,000 of assessed value, according to the draft ordinances. However, Koester said that amount could be added to the city’s existing debt service without raising the portion of the overall mill rate that covers such payments.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
