At final public hearing on borough’s budget residents talk of libraries, road maintenance and a gravel pit

There was a sparse turnout at last Tuesday’s April 29 regular Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly meeting. It was the third and final public hearing on the borough’s planned Fiscal Year 2026 budget, which becomes effective July 1.

Previous budget public hearings have also been low-key. Almost no one actually spoke to the budget last Tuesday except for a plea to keep the borough’s public libraries funded and left alone against the headwind of local activists campaigning for book bans. There was also a request from local resident Dave Cruz asking that the borough continue a $50,000 grant to help Palmer support a winter equipment operator at the city’s airport.

As for the borough’s near half-a-billion budget, up 6% next year, no one commented last Tuesday. That is a possible signal of satisfaction on how the assembly and borough administrators are handling finances.

Cruz highlighted the importance of Palmer’s airport, which operates year-round with 50,000 takeoffs and landings this year and 12,000 of these with flights related to business. The Medivac service at the airport is particularly important, aided by Palmer’s precision-approach runway instrumentation, one of the few airports so equipped in the state.

This allows a pilot during poor visibility to be computer-aided on final approach until within 200 feet of the ground, Cruz told the assembly. Palmer’s airport is also the center of support for summer wildfire suppression by the state Division of Forestry.

On the borough’s public libraries, another resident she wants the libraries to be shielded from book banners. “I don’t want anyone telling me what I shouldn’t read. I’ve had enough of that,” she said. Yet another resident, from Sutton, said: “We appreciate our community library. Last year there were 24,000 uses of library facilities.”

Sutton’s library is very popular locally. “This is quite different than what you may hear from some people,” about the local libraries, she said.

Mokie Tew, a former member of the borough assembly, asked assembly members to put contracts for some Road Service Area maintenance out for bid again, arguing the bids the borough received are too high. “We’ve got to get the price back down to what it should be,” he said.

On another issue Randy Crosby, of Trapper Creek, asked the assembly to review the borough’s decision to support a gravel pit application near Mile 128 on the Parks Highway, which is also neat the Chulitna River, to benefit one contractor. The decision runs up against local residents’ work with the South Denali recreation planning efforts that have been underway, Crosby said.

The gravel pit would be where a recreation green belt is planned along the river, he said. There is plenty of gravel available in two existing pits in the area.