$202 million for Mat-Su

PALMER — The story of Gov. Sean Parnell’s proposed budget, released Thursday, is one of belt-tightening.

But not, apparently, in the Mat-Su.

All-told, the budget contains $202,698,612 in Valley projects. Some of those — $55 million for the Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority and $10 million for the Susitna-Watana Hydroelectric dam — could be considered statewide projects. Subtracting them would bring the Valley’s total to $137 million and change.

In his press release announcing the budget, Parnell said the budget is a significant reduction from last year, with $1.3 billion less spending from the state’s general fund and 150 fewer positions in state government.

“Our budget proposal does something the federal government seems incapable of; it significantly reduces spending and addresses the biggest cost driver — our state’s unfunded pension liability payments,” Parnell says in the release. “My administration is focused on living within our means, meeting our constitutional priorities, fixing what we have and finishing what we’ve started.”

The governor’s budget is generally a starting place for the legislative session, which runs Jan. 21 to April 20, 2014, in Juneau. It’s a safe bet the Legislature will add to the budget rather than take away. And, with the Valley delegation in leadership positions — Sen. Charlie Huggins was president of that body last year, Rep. Bill Stoltze has been chair of that body’s finance committee — it’s likely the Valley’s funding will increase rather than decrease.

In addition to the dam and bridge, Parnell’s budget — which totals $5.6 billion in spending from the general fund with an additional $3 billion pay-down of the state’s pension liabilities from its savings account — funds many things the governor has funded before.

There’s $5 million to continue work to connect Bogard Road and Arctic Avenue. There’s $5 million more to work on the rail extension to Point MacKenzie, there’s $1.2 million to continue work on the South Denali Visitor’s Center and there’s $200,000 to continue work to build a shooting range in the Knik River Public Use Area.

Projects that are new to the budget include $11 million in improvements to Lucus Road and $50 million to resurface more than 50 miles of the Parks Highway from Mile 90 to Mile 146.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.