Unalaska, AK – Tonight city council will be meeting to discuss utilities billing and budget reallocations.

For the past two meetings, council has been working match the city's utilities billing practices with other communities in the state. A proposed ordinance would shorten the delinquency period by a month - from about three months to two. The ordinance is meant to prevent the city from absorbing losses from unpaid bills, which have ranged year by year from a couple of thousand dollars to amounts over $50,000.

The ordinance was first considered in August and failed because it was not deemed to be a comprehensive fix to the billing process and because there was concern that the ordinance was too focused on exceptional cases while not being narrowly tailored enough. It was reintroduced at the first meeting this month when all council members were present. It moved forward after a tied vote that was broken by Mayor Shirley Marquardt.

The other major item of business involves some shuffling of the city's budget. The ordinance would increase funding for public safety and reallocate money for the inner harbor and Carl E Moses boat harbor projects.

There will be public hearings for both ordinances.

There is also one item of new business. An ordinance that would authorize City Manager Chris Hladick to enter a $3.8 million agreement with Lake View General Contracting will get a first reading. That money would be used to build an 8-plex building for employee housing.

The meeting will start at 7pm at City Hall and is expected to last two hours. This will be the last meeting before the October 5th municipal election.