Soldotna will have to search in its budget for funds to cover its upcoming special election.
The election was set for May 10 at the last Soldotna City Council meeting for residents to decide whether to create a charter commission that would have a year to tackle the issue of a home rule charter. At its Wednesday meeting, the council failed to pass an ordinance that would have appropriated $3,400 to pay for the special election.
Council members Keith Baxter and Meaggan Bos-Marquez, who have both spoken against holding and paying for a special election in the past, voted against the ordinance, and council member Tim Cashman was absent. The ordinance received three “yes” votes, but needed four to pass.
City Manager Mark Dixon said if the ordinance had been approved, the $3,400 would have been allocated from a portion of the city’s budget that has not been appropriated yet. Now, the city will have the draw the funds from a portion that has already been appropriated to something, so that some area of the budget will “take the hit,” he said.
“We’ve had to find money before,” Dixon said after the meeting.
The entire special election is estimated to cost $5,900, but the city has $2,500 left over from its last general election and only needs $3,400 to supplement that, according to a memo to the council from City Clerk Shellie Saner.
Reach Megan Pacer at megan.pacer@peninsulaclarion.com.
