There will be no refund for vessel owners who tied up at city docks during the last six months. At city council’s last meeting in December, ports director Peggy McLaughlin pointed out that the published schedule of fees for the city’s harbors was inaccurate, and in some cases lower than what boat owners were actually being charged.

The city sought a legal opinion to determine whether the published schedule had actually been adopted by Council. In a memo, city attorney Brooks Chandler concluded that it hadn’t been voted on, and therefore was not legally binding. McLaughlin says any refunds would be have been extremely small anyways -- the differences between published moorage rates and actual billing was only a few cents in most cases.

Council will review the fee schedule again during Tuesday night's meeting, but staff aren’t recommending any changes.

City Council will also get a preview of projected revenues for the fiscal year 2014 at the meeting. The city operates mostly on fisheries and sales tax revenues, which are expected to stay steady in the coming fiscal year. Total revenues are projected at $33 million, but expenditures are slated to skyrocket, with a number of capital projects due to come online in the next two year, including the new wastewater and water treatments plants.

Long in the works, city council will decide whether to move forward with repaving Ballyhoo Road. On the agenda is a proposed $380,000 contract with PND Engineers for design of the roadway. The design would be an alternative to the state’s proposed design, which public works director Nancy Peterson describes in a memo as a “full, urban design with curb and gutter, sidewalks/pedestrian pathway, lighting and a complete excavation of the existing sub-base - essentially starting the roadway from scratch.”

Peterson writes that city staff has determined that the full overhaul is probably not necessary, and she recommends that PND come up with a more suitable design.  She also recommends that the contract not go out to bid because PND is familiar with the project and with Unalaska’s road requirements in general. Peterson adds that the cost of the contract is 6-7 percent of the overall construction budget, as opposed to the more standard 10-15 percent. If city council votes to approve the design contract, paving could begin next summer.