Valdez budget proposal sets aside $6.5 million for special litigation

Valdez's proposed 2027 budget sets aside $6.5 million for special litigation, part of a $7.5 million legal budget the City Council is scheduled to review at a work session Thursday, according to the city's presentation. The other $1 million is for operations.

Legal costs are "highly variable due to Council directed special litigation," the presentation says. Valdez budgeted $2 million for legal costs in 2023 and spent $2.8 million. In 2024, it raised the legal budget to $8 million and spent $7.1 million. This year, it raised a $4.5 million legal budget to $7.3 million and had spent $3.6 million when the presentation was prepared.

The presentation doesn't say which cases the money is for. In June, Valdez joined the North Slope and Fairbanks North Star boroughs in a court appeal of the state's findings on how the trans-Alaska pipeline is valued for taxes, Alaska News reported.

The proposed public safety budget rises 2% to about $2.1 million. It lists a $1.1 million jail grant for 2027, up from $600,000 this year, and dispatch for Whittier as added revenue and workload.

The city paid off one bond and prepaid another this year, and its scheduled debt service for 2027 is about $1.4 million, the presentation shows. It has started a timetable for new bonds, including $12 million for a baler facility and $10 million for the first phase of rural roads, and the city clerk's plan for next year includes a special election on bond debt.

The presentation puts this year's raw fish tax revenue for the city's harbor at $616,000, against $365,000 budgeted. The city's permanent fund, which pays out 1.5% a year, would put about $4.9 million into the general fund in 2027.

Thursday's session also covers ports and harbors and administration. A public hearing on the full budget is set for Nov. 17, with adoption Dec. 1. Earlier this month, Alaska News reported on a proposal to add $205,000 for economic development.