Assembly waits to appropriate erosion funds

MAT-SU -- The Mat-Su Borough Assembly agreed to wait until Nov. 16 before making a decision about whether to loan $100,000 to the Circle View subdivision service area for work to combat erosion along the Matanuska River.

Mat-Su Borough Finance Director Tammy Clayton said although the borough would continue to seek state or federal funding to repay the proposed loan from its revolving-loan fund, it would be financed as a 20-year loan to the service area, with annual payments of about $5,000 per year, plus interest.

Clayton said it wouldn't be considered a lien against individual lots, but all the property owners within the service area would be responsible for repaying it -- similar to having to pay a higher mill rate in a road service area.

What the money would fund, particularly, was still undecided last week. Borough Manager John Duffy said the money could fund a project to trench the river upstream of the erosion, in order to keep the channel flowing along a designated path. But, Duffy said, a fix from trenching the river would be short-lived, as sediment from the river would quickly fill up the area again.

"If we build a trench, how long would it last? It could be one month, one season -- it could be two years," Duffy said.

A few members of the subdivision, along with former Mat-Su Assembly Member Bruce Bush, who pushed for the assembly to take action in stopping the erosion of land along Matanuska River in Butte, spoke at an Oct. 19 Mat-Su Borough Assembly meeting in which the issue was up for public hearing.

Bush encouraged the assembly to take action this year, before freeze-up.

"Now is the time to get into the water and save that bank, then you can build as many dikes as possible," Bush said. "If you don't get on this river this year, you'll lose it by next year."

Some of the residents expressed concern that if they agree to take the $100,000 loan the assembly considered, they could be committing other property owners to paying it off.

Butte resident Ron Thornsley said while he wouldn't personally be liable for paying back the loan -- he's eligible for a senior property tax exemption -- he was concerned that subdivision residents weren't widely aware of the proposal.

"I oppose it because most of the people in the service area don't know about it," Thornsley said.

Linda Smith, also a property owner in the area, and one of two members of the subdivision's service area board, encouraged the assembly to get more information about what the $100,000 would pay for before transferring the money to the service area. She encouraged the assembly to wait until completion of a report from Peratrovich, Nottingham and Drage, an Anchorage engineering firm that originally designed the dikes that have stemmed erosion over the past decade.

Lynne Woods, who now represents Butte on the assembly, said she agreed with property owners' concerns.

"I would like to give credence to the residents who spoke here tonight," Woods said. "I would like to see specifically what that money would go for and do."

Assembly Member Jody Simpson said she agreed with Woods. She suggested filling in the open seats on the service area board before progressing.

"I don't have all the pieces of the puzzle," Simpson said.

The assembly agreed unanimously to discuss the ordinance at its Nov. 16 meeting, which will be held in Talkeetna. The meeting will be teleconferenced to the assembly chambers in the borough building in Palmer.

Contact Rindi White at rindi.white@frontiersman.com.