Borough assembly to weigh use of farm land along Port MacKenzie rail route

The Matanuska Susitna Borough Assembly worked through a list of business actions at its Wednesday, Dec. 17 meeting, but borough and state officials also briefed the assembly on several important items.

Dunleavy’s representative for Mat-Su, Todd Smoldon, reviewed the governor’s proposed budget for upcoming Fiscal Year 2026 with an emphasis on programs and projects for the region including a plan for a new trooper post in Talkeetna.

If this is approved by the Legislature it would improve public safety in the northern and western parts of the borough.

Borough manager Mike Brown endorsed the proposal, which would consist of a facility, possibly co-use with another public entity, as well as personnel. “Most likely it would have a sergeant and three troopers and possibly a state wildlife trooper as well,” Brown said.

Smoldon said the issues with new trooper posts and facilities are typically not the budget but personnel. The troopers are already short of people for authorized positions.

“If you know of a young person interested in law enforcement we’d really like to see an application to the trooper academy,” for training, Smoldon said.

He also urged support for the governor’s proposed “full” Permanent Fund Dividend, to be paid in accord with an existing statute that has long been on the books. The Legislature has traditionally funded only part of this but if the full payment were made it would inject about $390 million into the Mat-Su economy this year. There are about 100,000 PFD recipients in Mat-Su.

“But don’t count on this,” he added, acknowledging that the Legislature will likely do what it has in the past in approving only part of the money.

In other information provides, Mat-Su Borough clerk Lonnie McKechnie said the schedule has been set for public hearings and assembly consideration of the borough’s FY 2026 budget, which will take effect July 1.

Public hearings are set for April 22, 24 and 29, and the assembly is to work on the budget on May 1, 8 and 13.

The assembly was also briefed on a decision it will have to make in the next few months on what to do with 1,200 acres of Borough-owned land along the route of the proposed 32-mile rail connection between the Alaska Railroad main line near Houston and the Borough’s Port MacKenzie.

The borough purchased the land in 2013 as part of the establishment of a corridor for the railroad. The 1,200 acres an buildings are now used for farming and are leased out for hay, segmented into two 600-acre parcels. Both parcels, farmed separately, have houses an associated farm buildings, and the land has restrictions requiring agricultural use only.

The actual railroad corridor, which is separate, does not have restricted uses, however.

Brown, the borough manager, said tenants on both property are leaving for different reasons, one gone now and the other in April. Hay farming on both will continue through the summer.

“The assembly will have to decide what to do with the property,” Brown said. The land and buildings could be retained and leased as is currently done, with new tenants.

Alternatively, the land and buildings could be sold, leaving the borough with the right-of- way for the rail link. There could also be a hybrid plan, with the buildings sold and the farm acreage remaining in borough ownership. Brown said there is interest from several prospective buyers.

Hay grown on the two tracts brings in about $35,000 a year but various expenses, such as building maintenance, add up to $25,000 in a typical year. That leaves the borough with a small margin of $10,000 but when personnel expenses for management are added its break-even at best.

Brown’s preference is to see the land sold, to get the borough out of the property management business. “It’s not a good use of our staff resources. Property management is not something we do well,” particularly with just two land tracts.

“The final decision must be made by the assembly,” he said.

Among routine business, the assembly approved scope of work changes on several borough street projects as well as the planned emergency services building under the assembly’s “consent agenda,” where various small projects are grouped for approval.

A resolution was also passed authorizing borough manager Brown to use an alternative design-build contract method for development of the New Academy Charter School.

Design-build is a procedure where the architectural and construction work are combine in lieu of the traditional method of soliciting bids separately for the design and building. The procedure is intended to save money where it is used.