Sitting pretty: stimulus money would be spent wisely.

• Author: Bohi, Heidi
• Position: TOWNS IN TRANSITION - Briefs

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As cities across the country lay off thousands of employees and cut everything but essential services from their budgets, Anchorage, despite its $17 million shortfall for its $430 million budget, is sitting pretty. Transitioning from the direction of former Mayor Mark Begich to Acting Mayor Matt Claman, and, depending on this month's election, the city may possibly elect a third leader who will be handed the job of running the Municipality of Anchorage in the face of increasing costs and decreasing revenues.

More than half of the total $17 million shortfall has been made up, Claman says, spread throughout 20 departments, including the Office of the Mayor. As another cost-cutting measure, the 2009 Police Academy also has been postponed until the summer of 2010, totaling $2.45 million in reductions from this department. A total of $10.6 million in reduced spending has been made to date that includes approximately 10 layoffs in Health and Human Services, and Parks and Recreation departments, leaving about 50 municipal positions vacant. Departmental cuts include $609,000 from the Municipal Manager's Office, more than $377,000 in health and human services, $591,000 to public transportation, $1 million to maintenance and operations, and $1 million in funding to the fire department to address overtime overruns.

DOING PRETTY WELL

Business Week and the Wall Street Journal tagged Anchorage as a city well-situated to weather the international economic crisis and one of the best-positioned for riding out a recession, saying that it has one of the strongest economies in the nation resulting from oil and natural gas supplies, its military presence, and tourism. According to the Anchorage Economic Development Corp. (AEDC) 2009 economic forecast, overall employment is expected to decrease slightly from the 2008 level, with increases expected in retail (200 jobs) and health care (100 jobs), and decreases in leisure and hospitality, construction and transportation collectively accounting for 200 fewer jobs. Employment in the oil and gas and government sectors is expected to remain at last year's levels. At the same time, office and industrial vacancies have remained in the low single digits, encouraging developers to continue to build large, new office spaces in Anchorage for the first time in 10 years.

Part of the reason Anchorage finances are in relatively good shape and the city does not have to take dramatic steps to continue to...