DeVilbiss: ‘Vision for a brighter future’

Thank you to the voters and tax payers of the Borough for trusting me with four years as your Mayor. I have thoroughly enjoyed the service and poured my heart and energy into it. I would also like to thank Ms. Vavrin for brightening the many forums that we appeared in. I am also grateful to Assemblyman Halter for complaining about my vetoes and defining me as narrow in my stance of defending the people’s property rights and pocket books. All of this helps us re-evaluate the past and adjust our sights for the future. The voters help us through this adjustment. This is the beauty of democracy at work.

As a four generation participant in a local family farm and an elected member of local government at every level, I’m asking to complete my term limits as mayor so that we can continue increasing local employment, gaining independence from over-regulation and increasing community involvement for all segments of our population here at home.

As your Mayor, I am proud to have been able to redefine the Borough Mayor’s position. I brought hard work, community involvement and congeniality to this part time job that I believe is unequaled. When I was first elected I entered a borough government that was without a borough manager. I was directly involved in hiring John Moosey, who has put a high-performing management team together at the Mat-Su Borough.

My neighbors, friends, the many voters I have recently met and I have discussed our shared values of small government, responsible resource development, economic stability, due process and fiscal restraint. Together, we can continue to build the infrastructure and economic opportunities necessary to support our ever-increasing population.

We have begun implementing existing and long-term plans for our transportation grid enhancements and expansion, including the port and the rail spur; work to enhance the sustainability of our fishing resources has started; expanding the reach of our wireless networks through cell tower installations is happening; research and identification of methods for meeting our current and increasing housing needs is on-going; and plans for a Mat-Su Borough Septage and Sewage facility are underway.

We can all see that numerous new homes have been and are being built in our communities. But, did you know that we have also made it easier for new employment opportunities to open up so that more of our population can live and work in the Mat-Su Borough?

In 2015 Alaska’s Division of Commerce reported that 44% of us were commuting to work outside the Borough. That number has dropped from 55% to 44% since 2011, the first year you elected me to be your Mayor. Additionally, in 2011 there were 1,004 licensed businesses in the MSB. By 2015 business licensing had grown to 1,496 businesses, an almost 50% increase in employment opportunities.

I have used the Mayor’s veto pen to keep the area wide property tax mill rate flat. We have been able to absorb the cost of necessary growth in services such as education and emergency services with the growing income from new construction, the rising free market assessed values on property and external governmental co-funding. You have probably read or heard me speak about my ideas for alternative funding sources and partnerships that don’t involve Assembly mandated tax increases. I look forward to more discussions like these as the prospect of state and federal monies drying up becomes a reality.

Our Borough is the size of West Virginia. Our communities are relatively small, the distances between them are physically, socially and economically, relatively large. I recognize and celebrate those facts as I work to help us retain our character and lifestyles while preparing for the future.

I can promise that with your vote for Larry DeVilbiss for MSB Mayor our government will be tied to fiscal restraint and reality. Join me in voting for the continued prosperity and health of the entire Mat-Su Borough this Tuesday, October 6th. Please also visit MatSuMayor.com for more information about me.

Larry DeVilbiss is the Mat-Su Borough Mayor.