$75M in bonds on ballot

PALMER — Voters will be asked to decide Oct. 5 on about $75 million in bonds for Valley entities.

The bonds come in three packages — one to be spent on roads in the Mat-Su Borough and two for schools. The road bonds total $32.5 million and would go to the following projects:

• $1 million to pave and upgrade 17 Mile Lake Road.

• $4 million to build the Dogwood Avenue and Felton Street Extension.

• $4.5 million to extend Trunk Road to Nelson Road.

• $7 million to extend Clapp Road from the sports center in Wasilla to Knik-Goose Bay Road.

• $2 million to upgrade two intersections on Big Lake Road.

• $2 million to upgrade and pave Hawk Lane between Houston High School and Beaver Lake Road.

• $7 million to improve the intersection of Seldon and Lucille streets and upgrade Lucille north of Spruce Avenue.

• $750,000 to pave and upgrade Caswell Lakes Road.

• $500,000 to pave and upgrade Talkeetna local roads.

• $1 million to pave and upgrade roads in Trapper Creek.

• $750,000 to upgrade and extend Willow Lake Drive.

• $1 million to pave and upgrade Beverly Lake Road.

• $500,000 to upgrade roads in Meadow Lakes.

The remaining half-million would go toward the issuance costs of the bonds. Taxpayers would pay for the bonds through a hike in property tax rates.

Ron Arvin, one of two assemblymen who sponsored the ordinance putting those bonds on the ballot, said he and Assemblyman Jim Colver sat down with staff to identify road needs. He said the bonds would pay for 100 percent of the projects, which is to say there would be no federal or state money used.

“We’re not going to get a penny from Juneau next year. That’s my opinion,” Arvin said in an assembly meeting Aug. 3. The bonds were postponed at that meeting; the assembly didn’t approve putting them on the ballot until it had spent all day Thursday reworking the package, adding and subtracting projects.

But if the borough does this, Arvin argued, then the state will be more likely to look kindly on Mat-Su when those purse strings loosen up.

“We’re showing the state that we’re willing to carry our own water on our own local roads,” Arvin said.

In an interview, he said that over the life of the bonds, borough residents would be asked to pay about $32 total for each $100,000 of assessed property value. Arvin said.

On a $200,000 house, and even if the bonds are paid back in a year, “That’s a cup of coffee a day,” Arvin said. “That’s how I got my head around it.”

Assemblyman Pete Houston said the state could reward Mat-Su’s efforts, but could also learn a different lesson.

“Maybe it would be the message that they don’t really have to take care of us because we’ll do it ourselves,” he said.

Cindy Bettine, who voted against the bond packages, said she did so not because she’s opposed to road bonds but because it felt to her like borough taxpayers were being asked to shoulder too heavy a burden.

“I’d like to see some other financial contributions from something besides Mat-Su property tax,” Bettine said Friday.

As for the school bonds, a lot of the items included in that package may seem familiar to Valley voters as a number of the projects were ones that failed to pass muster at the ballot box last year. The bonds are all aimed at major renovation projects at area schools.

An added twist this year is a raft of sports-related bonds, which is a separate question on the ballot.

The renovation bonds total out at $33.9 million and would pay for new fire alarm systems at 10 schools, new roofs for four schools and the administration building, roof repairs for three schools, improved parking and access for three schools and new floors for eight schools. Also, Swanson Elementary would get a new boiler.

The sports side of the school bonds totals $9 million and includes new turf fields for Colony, Palmer and Wasilla high schools, as well as running tracks for Colony, Houston, Palmer, Su-Valley and Wasilla high schools. Su-Valley would get a hockey rink, outside basketball court and a warm-up facility.

Unlike the road bonds, all of the school bonds are eligible for a 70 percent reimbursement from the state. The language on the ballot will prohibit issuing any bonds if the state hasn’t kicked in its share.

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