Wasilla council adopts $82,907 midyear budget amendment to partially fund police position

The Wasilla City Council on Jan. 19 adopted an amendment to the fiscal-year 2026 budget to appropriate $82,907 from the general fund to fund the remainder of a police officer position created through a grant.

Councilmember Johnson moved to adopt Ordinance Serial Number 2601, and Councilmember Rubio seconded; no members objected and the motion carried. No members of the public spoke during the ordinance's public hearing.

Council discussion focused on why the funding had been "inadvertently deleted" from the prior budget cycle and what systems changes can prevent repeat errors. "I strongly support this. I think the thing that caught my attention on this is the word 'inadvertently deleted,' and I don't know what led to that in the last year's budgeting cycle," Councilmember Johnson said, urging administration to review processes.

City staff described steps already underway to reduce such errors by aligning HR and finance control registers and by moving toward integrated financial systems. "We put into place NeoGov on the HR side and we are working with Central Square," an administrator explained, adding that migration to Tyler Technologies is expected to streamline control of position and budgeting records.

Staff said the appropriation represents roughly half of a year's cost for the position because the hiring resulted from grant timing and the city is funding the remainder of the fiscal year only. The police chief reported the department currently has one vacancy, is sending two officers to the state academy, and that counting this position would adjust authorized sworn counts.

The ordinance passed without recorded roll-call tallies in the transcript; the chair announced the motion carried without objection. The council moved on to other business and approved the remainder of the agenda items.