Today Governor Bill Walker submitted a bare-bones capital budget as well as an operating budget developed by predecessor Sean Parnell which he has not endorsed.
With the state looking at potential $3.2 billion budget deficit and oil prices dropping below $60 per barrel today, KSRM asked Kenai City Manager Rick Koch what Kenai can do to prepare for tightening budgets.
He said right now they have to wait and see how legislature reacts.
Koch: “If their hair is going to be on fire and they make dramatic cuts then obviously we’re going to have to take a real hard look at what our expenditure levels are and sort of hunker down and weather the storm. If they decide to use a billion or two or three in money they have in various saving accounts including the CBR (constitutional budget reserve) and others, they can minimize those short term effects as long as they plan well for the longer term.”
Koch also said if there is a significant decrease in the Municipal Revenue Sharing, Kenai will have to respond to that but those impacts wouldn’t been seen until Fiscal Year 2017.
The Walker administration had pared-down Parnell’s proposed capital budget which had included $106.7 million in unrestricted general funds and Walker budget director Pat Pitney said any proposed add-ons will be closely scrutinized.
Gov. Walker plans to submit a revised version of both budgets next year.