Borough unveils funding wish list

PALMER — Voters and taxpayers could end up pulling the lever on fire stations, pool repairs, and more road repairs this fall.

Mat-Su Borough staff presented information on a series of funding packages potentially worth more than $120 million to assembly members at Tuesday night’s meeting. No votes were taken on any of the items, which took the form of a brief series of informational presentations and an added section of public comment. Assembly members have until August to approve any of the potential funding packages for the Oct. 8 local elections.

The Department of Emergency Services asked assembly members to consider a potential maximum of about $35 million in a combination of bonds and certificates of participation to construct or improve four facilities and the borough’s radio communications service. Not all of that money would go directly into the area-wide property tax rate, but would instead be funded with a certificate of participation, in which the total cost of the project is purchased up front, and the funds are borrowed against a revenue stream, like lease agreements. Station 5-1, near the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center, was funded through such an agreement.

Certificates of participation — unlike general obligation bonds, which require voter approval to incur debt — can be approved by a simple assembly vote. A certificate of participation also allows the funds to flow from a specific section of the borough instead of all borough taxpayers.

For example, a planned replacement for the existing fire station 73 already has $5.1 million in state funds, but requires an additional $3.3 million for completion, according to emergency services director Bill Gamble. The West Lakes Fire Service Area Board of Supervisors has already unanimously voted to approve a mill rate increase to cover the COP, Gamble told the assembly.

“The facility we’re going to build is to replace a current facility that was never intended to be used as a fire station,” he said.

Gamble’s presentation, and another presentation by Central Fire Chief James Steele, drew at-times terse questioning from District 3 assemblyman George McKee, who said emergency services ought to consider cheaper options instead.

“If the residents are asked to choose between pools and a maintenance facility for the fire service area, what would you as a resident do?” McKee said.

“You’re asking me as an ex-fire chief and emergency services director?” Gamble said.

“I am, if you’re a resident here, yes,” McKee replied.

“I am, and there’s no pools anywhere near me, so I’d have to say that a fleet maintenance facility would be my choice,” Gamble said.

“And close the pools?” McKee said.

“I guess that’d be your choice, not mine,” Gamble said.

Officials have also considered adding a fleet service facility to construction plans for the new Station 73, with an estimated $1.9 million price tag. Another cost estimate for a standalone facility could range up to $15 million, according to documents provided to the assembly, meaning the total price tag for a fleet maintenance facility is highly variable. In 2017, the borough will lose its current fleet maintenance facility in downtown Wasilla, where officials don’t intend to renew the lease for the maintenance building, Gamble and Wasilla city officials have said.

Fire officials also asked for about $5 million toward the estimated $12 million cost of constructing a multi-use training building at station 6-2 along Knik-Goose Bay Road. The department will be able to shuffle $7 million around through a combination of re-scoping projects, $3.3 million in fund projects, and $1.8 million in existing funds. The envisioned facility would involve expanded classroom facilities, testing and training labs, and repairs to the existing structures.

The Central Fire department would also reduce its operating budget annually by the amount required to cover the cost of the certificate of participation, Steele said. The Central Fire Service Area Board of Supervisors had already approved a mill rate increase from 1.99 to 2.15, regardless whether the construction was approved. A mill is $1 of tax levied for each $1,000 of assessed home value. A house assessed at $200,000 would thus pay $430 per year for fire service, up from the current $398 per year.

Borough officials also asked for bout $6 million for a separate earthquake emergency services facility, which would be paid out of a potential bond.

There’s also a request for between $4.5 and $5.9 million to improve the borough’s radio communications capacity, which frequently requires responders to repeat information covered over by other responders’ broadcasts, and would also be paid out of a bond.

The lack of radio coverage put residents in rural outlying areas at risk, Gamble told the assembly.

“In fact, in the last three months, we’ve had a couple of events up in that area, where the responders in Caswell were not alerted to events that were taking place and requests for their assistance because the radio system could not tone them out via pages, or they could not hear the radio traffic because of gaps we have in coverage in that area,” he said.

In general, the assembly has been more willing to ask voters to spend on schools than it has for emergency services, Gamble said. The borough handles roughly 40 percent of the call volume as the Anchorage Fire Department with 10 percent of Anchorage’s personnel, officials said.

“We’re growing,” Gamble said. “We’re growing fast. Our population has doubled three times since I moved here in 1989. We’ve been kicking the can down the road for a long time now with emergency services. We’ve bonded for millions and millions of dollars in school projects for renovations and new construction, we’ve bonded for millions and millions of dollars in road projects for upgrades and new roads, but we have never ever bonded for emergency services.”

Despite its needs, the emergency services funding package still trailed a suggested roads bond of $72 million for 13 road projects, ranging from $13 million for a Point MacKenzie Road Upgrade between Knik-Goose Bay and the Burma Road intersection, to $850,000 to improve sections of Billings Boulevard and Anaconda Avenue, which would establish an alternate route to the Talkeetna spur road beside the “Y” intersection.

Both the emergency services and roads funding discussed Tuesday surpassed the amount sought for recreational repairs in the borough, now estimated at about $22 million.

Borough officials originally put the bond amount at $12 million for repairs and renovations to the Palmer and Wasilla pools, $2.175 million for improvements to nine different trails, and about $3.7 million for improvements to the Brett Memorial Ice Arena. The package now includes about $3.5 million additional projects from outlying areas, including $1.4 million for the Willow and Talkeetna outdoor ice rinks, $365,830 for Willow Community Park, about $1.2 million for Big Lake-area trail bridges, $100,000 for Fish Lake parking lot improvements in Talkeetna and $100,000 for boat launch repair at Lake Louise.

On a $200,000 house, that amounts to $38 more dollars per year over the current property tax rate, based on borough figures provided Tuesday night.

Kowalke and assembly member Dan Mayfield said they had suggested some of the items to give the recreation package a broader appeal outside of the borough core area.

Contact reporter Brian O’Connor at 352-2270, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.