Bonds for school projects, port proceed

MAT-SU -- The excavation crews may be a few months off, but money for about $32 million in projects approved by Mat-Su Borough voters should be on its way before spring.

The Mat-Su Borough Assembly, Tuesday, unanimously approved a motion authorizing the issuance of nearly $16 million in bonds for a new Wasilla elementary school, a permanent site for an alternative school in Palmer, a nutrition services facility for the school district, a career center and vocational high school. A second motion authorized more than $6.3 million in bonds to be issued for nearly 80 school renovation projects, including for sprinklers and piping at Palmer Junior Middle School, fire alarms at Snowshoe and Iditarod elementary schools and Su-Valley High School, siding and doors for Big Lake Elementary, and ventilation improvements for Colony High School. A third motion authorized the issuance of $10 million in bonds for the planning, design and construction of a deep-draft dock at Port MacKenzie, and improvements to Point MacKenzie Road.

Jay Nolfi, a Big Lake resident who worked to get the port bonds passed, shared her excitement with the assembly.

"Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus," Nolfi said.

Mat-Su Borough Finance Director, sitting in for vacationing Borough Manager John Duffy, said the state had signed off on an agreement to reimburse the bonds at the 100-percent level previously agreed to by the Legislature. That reimbursement is dependent on year-by-year reappropriations by the Legislature.

According to information accompanying the resolution, the bonds will be priced in late January, and available for sale until their closing in mid-February.