Diversifying our job growth

family of Rep. Carl Gatto. I served with Carl on the Mat-Su Borough School Board. I thank his family for Carl’s dedicated service on the school board and during his five terms as state legislator for the Mat-Su Borough.

Returning from a trip to Juneau Friday, I am encouraged by the possible funding via our state delegation for roads, schools and Port MacKenzie rail. We’ll know more, likely Sunday, when the legislative session is expected to end.

As I look to the future, jobs are on my mind. Some 400 new jobs were added in the borough last year, pushing the number of Mat-Su jobs to an all-time high. Good news — even so, nearly half of us still don’t work in the Mat-Su and commute elsewhere.

And the burden of local government taxes remains squarely on the shoulders of small businesses and residents. We want to change that, to diversify the tax base by drawing professional services, resource development and value-added manufacturing companies here.

Our new Economic Development Director Don Dyer is from the private sector and is already at work bolstering some struggling small businesses with a fresh look at their business plans. Dyer will also be methodically working through data of all the potential businesses that could move here and on how to expand the businesses that are here.

Recently, we reached out to 3,500 business owners who hold licenses in the borough, asking how local government can help the private sector grow. Interesting responses came back such as “get out of the way.”

We’re listening. We repealed a tax on airplanes. We’ve scaled back permits, such as the mandatory land-use permit. We’ve removed an ordinance on cell towers. We’ve adopted a gravel ordinance that provides mining into the water table while bearing reclamation in mind.

Online services are growing at the borough, making it easier to do business at your convenience. Taxes are paid online already. But soon other services, such as permits, licenses, board applications, recreation classes, trailhead parking passes and more, will be obtainable online.

What’s called an email push will also soon be available thanks to the steady and earnest work going on in our IT Department. Soon, you won’t have to remember to look on our website, matsugov.us, for meeting agendas. If you sign up on our website to receive an email notification, a borough assembly meeting agenda is automatically sent to your inbox with each new meeting, so you can stay informed with less effort and testify on the issues that matter to you.

Additionally, public hearings on next year’s budget are right around the corner, at 6 p.m. May 2 and 3, at the Central Mat-Su Public Safety Building. Let us know which services matter to you.

Our economic development plan is going to work. The Economic Development Advisory Council, an independent group representing all business sectors borough-wide, is advising the borough on economic development.

Title 26 is a code that’s been in existence, but has not received much attention. It offers companies business incentives that we hope companies put into play.

Tours of the Goose Creek Correctional Center and the port have stepped up over the past year. We want to engage our business community and residents in the public about infrastructure projects that are either opening, such as the prison, or are well under way, such as the Port MacKenzie Rail Extension.

More than 350 state Department of Corrections jobs will be coming online next year in a variety of fields, from health care to maintenance to food service and more. Check the state Department of Corrections website, correct.state.ak.us, for recruiting info.

The Knik Arm Crossing remains a top priority. It is the most significant public infrastructure project in the last 40 years since the George Parks Highway. The bridge from Alaska’s financial center of Anchorage to the fastest growing community around will make connections far beyond what we see today. I look forward to the opportunities.

Larry DeVilbiss has been borough mayor since January 2011.