Unalaska's city council tackled a litany of financial issues at this week's meeting -- everything from property taxes to the upcoming budget to one councilor's international travel plans. 

New budget moves forward: Unalaska's municipal budget is almost finalized. It's the result of months of deliberation and planning. But there were still a few last-minute additions up for consideration this week.

The city council heard presentations from two nonprofits requesting grants in the 2015 fiscal year. KUCB's parent organization, Unalaska Community Broadcasting, and Unalaskans Against Sexual Assault and Family Violence each asked for $15,000.

USAFV wants to buy a larger vehicle for transporting clients and cargo. Unalaska Community Broadcasting is planning to spend the city funds on equipment for live broadcasts of city council meetings. Council unanimously approved the requests.

City council also had to make a decision regarding one of the few new capital projects scheduled for 2015 -- upgrades to the public pool. Councilors started considering the project weeks ago, but they didn't vote to select a construction plan until last night. The three options for renovating the facility ranged from basic improvements to an extensive redesign.

Some councilors took a tour of the existing pool building, and they said they supported the most basic plan. It clocks in at $1 million. The council voted 5-0 to fund those repairs in their capital budget. That brings the city’s 2015 capital budget to $7.1 million.

That capital budget, and the city’s operating budget, will go to a public hearing and second reading at the council’s next meeting on May 27.

Council funds current requests: Council tackled two funding requests related to the current budget. They unanimously approved a request to send councilor Dennis Robinson to Finland to attend an Arctic summit.

The council had previously voted to send the mayor to the meeting, sponsored by the Institute of the North. At the time, Robinson had said he thought it was important for a city councilor to attend -- or at least, to contribute talking points for the mayor.

Last night, Marquardt said there was room for another Unalaska official to attend the conference. Marquardt also said the trip's costing less than originally anticipated.

In all, the city will pay about $14,400 to send Robinson and Marquardt to the meeting in Finland. The money will come from the contingency fund in the mayor and council’s budget, since their travel fund is tapped.

The council also voted unanimously to advance a budget amendment for the current fiscal year. It includes $191,000 for the finance department, to cover auditing services and the salary of interim finance director Karl Swanson. 

Property appraisals raise questions: Before city council could put the finishing touches on Unalaska’s new budget at last night’s meeting, they had to convene a meeting of the Board of Equalization. That board is charged with resolving disputes over property value and taxation.

Last summer, Unalaska hired the Appraisal Company of Alaska to re-assess local properties. This year, personal and business property owners filed 22 appeals contesting the appraised value of their holdings. The appraisals are important because they determine how much a property is taxed. The current rate is 10.5 mils.

Adam Verrier is an appraiser with ACA. He was responsible for resolving appeals with owners, and bringing the unresolved claims before the Board of Equalization for a hearing. In the end, Verrier presented two sets of appeals. 

Offshore Systems Incorporated is a marine support business with a complex in Unalaska. They contested the appraised value of two of their industrial properties, plus three residences on Standard Oil Hill and in the Valley.

OSI didn’t send a representative to make its case. But Verrier, the appraiser, read a letter from the company arguing that the value of their properties is not going up.

"The absence of Shell Oil should also be considered as a driver of decreasing economic value of the properties and improvements," the letter read. "Additional backup information to support OSI’s position to be forthcoming."

Verrier said he didn’t agree with OSI’s claims, given his research into recent property sales in the community. The board unanimously denied OSI’s appeals.

Coe Whittern also filed several appeals on the valuations of his property. Whittern owns residential land and commercially-zoned lots in Unalaska. He said his residential properties had been assessed at the full market value, while the industrial commercial property was far below market value.

"That means that you’re taxing us at a much higher rate if we’re homeowners here than we are if we’re a business owner or an industry, because the amount of tax you’re paying is determined by the mil rate and the assessment," Whittern said. "You’ve got a serious problem here, and it needs to be addressed across the board."

The appraiser, Verrier, said he only performed residential appraisals in Unalaska, so he couldn’t fully address Whittern’s concerns about commercial land values.

But Verrier did say that appraisals are generally based on research into property sales. The valuation of a land parcel or building comes from comparing it to what similar properties have sold for.

Verrier said a lack of commercial land sales makes it tough to draw conclusions about how the value of similar property has changed over time. And often, commercial sale data is private.

Still, city manager Chris Hladick said he would research how the appraisers addressed commercial land in their most recent study.

The board moved forward, denying Wittern’s property appeals and finalizing the real property tax rolls.