Unalaska is moving forward on its financial plans for next year and into the future.

The city council is still developing the city’s operating budget for 2016, as well as funding for local nonprofits. They’ll discuss those plans in a work session -- and take a final vote on two others -- when they meet tonight.

Council will be asked to approve a $3.9 million city contribution to the Unalaska City School District's 2016 budget. It’s a slight increase over the schools’ 2015 request.

Even so, with declines in enrollment and state funding on the horizon, the district is expecting to run a $285,000 deficit next year. They've submitted their budget proposal to the city for approval in the coming weeks. 

Council will also give final approval to the city’s capital and major maintenance plan for the next four years. The $94 million spending plan lays out a timeline for projects the city wants done through 2020. It covers everything from historic preservation to the expansion of the Unalaska Marine Center dock.

And council will get an update on the designs for the dock project from PND Engineers. That's ahead of a public meeting on Wednesday, when PND is set to take more input from industry users and residents. 

Also tonight, council will take a first look tonight at a plan to let absent councilors or the mayor telephone into council meetings this summer. 

In an internal memo to councilors and city staff, Mayor Shirley Marquardt says she’s concerned about the number of councilors who will be off-island for upcoming votes on issues like the dock expansion and city manager search.

Action on items like those requires at least four votes. So Marquardt wants councilors to be able to call into meetings with prior notice. In the past, they’ve only been able to do that for executive sessions.

The ordinance to expand that practice to all meetings and work sessions, at least through September, is up for a first reading tonight. Council will meet at 6 p.m. at City Hall.