Borough finalizes priorities

PALMER — The Mat-Su Borough outlined its state priorities this week and, by week’s end, found out the Governor had already put a pair of them in his budget.

There are, of course, the usual suspects:

• $126 million to complete the Port MacKenzie rail extension.

• A push for the Knik Arm bridge project.

• $6.5 million to upgrade substandard roads and bridges.

• $22 million to build the planned state-run South Denali Visitor Center.

• $1.5 million for an education center on the Palmer Hay Flats.

But there are some notable new additions this year, not least of which is $2.5 million the borough wants for “fisheries and fish protection.” Borough manager John Moosey said Friday that this was a reaction to poor salmon runs in the last few years.

“We are very concerned about fish returning back up to the Valley because that has a huge impact on tourism,” he said.

One project that isn’t new but that the borough has reprioritized, putting it near the top, is $19.5 million to extend Bogard Road from its eastern terminus to the Glenn Highway.

“That has jumped up very high up on the priority list,” Moosey said. “That’s pretty much because that would be a very nice east-west corridor.”

He said the project also has matured; the borough has wrapped up the process of procuring the land it needs to build the road.

One of the new priorities is one that Moosey has said in the past terrifies him. Friday he confirmed he’s still scared to death to work on managing the Matanuska River’s erosion problems.

“Something needs to get done, but I don’t want to make it worse,” he said.

A couple of recreation projects are newish as well. The borough wants $1.25 million to build a parking lot for snowmachine access to Bald Mountain. There’s also a $4 million request for the next phase of Nordic skiing trails in the Government Peak area of Hatcher Pass.

“The assembly has been very good on supporting motorized and then also, where it’s important, non-motorized,” Moosey said.

The borough also ranked its top-three road projects for funding this year: expanding the Parks Highway from Lucus Road to Big Lake Road, expanding Knik-Goose Bay Road from Centaur Avenue to Vine Road, and reconstructing the Glenn Highway from Chickaloon to Cascade.

While the capital budget is something legislators will wrangle over for most of their 90 days in Juneau next year, Gov. Sean Parnell gave the borough a glimpse of what the state will use as a starting point Friday when he released his proposed budget.

A couple of the borough’s priorities wound up in that budget:

• The governor would like to set aside $10 million to fund the reserve for the Knik Arm bridge project. A lack of a reserve fund has been cited recently as holding up the project. The bridge would be privately financed with investors paid back through tolls. The reserve would cover shortfalls in the bridge’s early years between toll revenue and investment payments. Bridge opponents object to using taxpayer monies to underwrite private business risks and held up the fund during the last legislative session.

• The Parks Highway reconstruction to Big Lake Road was slated for a $29 million infusion in Parnell’s budget.

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