Citing cultural affinity, Chugiak and Eagle River may want to join Mat-Su Borough

A group of Chugiak and Eagle River residents will petition the state Local Boundary Commission to join the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and leave the Municipality of Anchorage.

A draft petition to begin gathering signatures is before the boundary commission for a technical review, Ken McCarty, one of the organizers of the effort, told the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly at its Tuesday, June 17 meeting.

McCarty is a former Republican legislator who served in the state House in 2021 and 2022 representing Chugiak. He told the assembly that many Chugiak and Eagle River residents share cultural and political values with Mat-Su and would feel more comfortable becoming a part of its borough.

They are less comfortable with the more liberal and progressive values of Anchorage, McCarty said.

“We’re just not happy with the sad situation of Anchorage,” McCarty said, although he did not elaborate on what the problems are.

Jedediah Smith, a local government specialist in the state Department of Commerce, Community and Regional Affairs who helps coordinate matters for the boundary commission, said the technical review of the petition is intended to ensure it is drafted correctly before citizen advocates begin gathering signatures.

Two rounds of signature gathering will be needed. One round will be to petition the boundary commission to leave the Anchorage Municipality. This will require 25% of registered voters in Chugiak and Eagle River to sign petitions, Smith said. That is a high hurdle.

The second petition will be to gather signatures in the Mat-Su Borough to join that borough, to which Mat-Su will have to agree. The state Legislature will have to approve both actions assuming they are okayed by the boundary commission.

Smith said there is also a separate effort underway by residents in Chugiak and Eagle River to simply exit the Anchorage Municipality and to form their own borough.

McCarty said there is a long history of relationships between Eagle River, Chugiak, Palmer and the Mat-Su region that goes back decades and the fact that Matanuska Electric Association, the regional electric co-op, serves the two communities north of Anchorag testifies to this.

Assembly members and borough officials made no comments during or after McCarty’s comments because they were made in the Audience Participation part of the meeting, which does not allow for questions or discussion. McCarty said he wanted to inform the borough on what is being proposed.

In other discussion at the assembly meeting borough manage Mike Brown offered more information on a proposed 7 cents-per-gallon vehicle fuel tax that will help pay for road construction and maintenance.

The assembly has scheduled a public hearing on the proposal for its July 15 meeting. Brown restated comments made earlier that the tax will provide revenues for roads, not government growth. It would also not apply to marine or aviation fuel.

Its advantage is that it would tax people who use Mat-Su roads including non-residents such as tourists and not load the cost of repaying road bonds and for maintenance on local property taxpayer, Brown said.

“An important point is that the borough is now in good financial shape. Our bonds are rated at AA-plus by two rating agencies,” he said.

“But as we look to the future see more road needs and more school needs, possibly requiring three new $20 million sets of road bonds and two sets of $50 million school bonds.”

The state is showing an unwillingness to help pay for these and the situation is unlikely to improve in the near future. “We have to assume that the state’s share of supporting these will go to zero,” Brown said.

If the borough’s property taxpayers were to pay these costs the effect on local property mill rates could be substantial, he said.

Several comments from residents during the Audience Participation part of the meeting indicate that there will be a lively discussion during the July 12 hearing on the proposal.

One person doubted that the new tax revenues will be solely restricted to roads and there will be a “creep” into using them for general government. Another person suggested that a “sunset” provision be applied to the tax so that it ends after a period unless is reauthorized.

There was also a suggestion that the tax be approved by voters, not just the borough assembly.