Drinking, driving on borough ballot

PALMER — With approval of a proposition seeking $16.2 million worth of bonds, the Mat-Su Borough Assembly has the ballot for the Oct. 1 general election.

Each of the bonds addresses a different problem with access to borough schools. They break down like this:

• $1.62 million to upgrade Clay-Chapman Road and Knik Knack Mud Schack Road to provide access to a future middle and high school.

• $3.5 million to upgrade Lucille Street and a pathway to access Tanaina Elementary.

• $4.5 million to build a bridge and further provide access to Machetanz Elementary School off of South Trunk Road.

• $1.5 million to put a signal in on Seward Meridian Parkway at the entrance to Cottonwood Creek Elementary School.

• $3.25 million to restore access to Pioneer Peak Elementary School that is about to get erased by the project expanding and straightening Trunk Road.

• $1.5 million to upgrade the Vine Road and Hollywood Road intersection to handle traffic for Goose Bay and Knik elementary schools.

Assemblyman Jim Colver tried and failed to get the money for the Cottonwood Elementary traffic light removed. He pointed out that the borough doesn’t own or maintain any traffic lights, and if the measure passes, the borough would be required to coordination with the state, which owns Seward Meridian Parkway.

“We’ve been down that road already with just trying to do maintenance on Seward Meridian,” he said, referring to an ongoing spat between the borough and state about the state taking over maintenance duties in exchange for the borough taking over some state roads.

But Assemblyman Ron Arvin said that whether it’s a borough or a borough-funded state project putting in the light, those are borough residents taking their lives into their hands trying to cross traffic to get to school every morning.

“I think the money needs to stay in there,” he said.

The only other borough ballot proposition voters will be asked about is the one from Assemblyman Steve Colligan seeking a 5 percent tax on alcoholic beverages. Colligan is pitching the tax as a means to alleviate tax burdens on property owners. Currently, the vast majority of borough revenues come from property taxes.

On Colligan’s side is the Mat-Su Health Foundation, which points to statistics it says show taxes on alcohol lessen the amount of problem drinking in a community.

Ben Jenkins, vice president of state government communications at the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States in Washington, D.C., wrote in an email responding to initial Frontiersman reporting on the proposed tax that he disputes that assertion.

“Arguments that higher taxes would curb abusive drinking are not supported by the data. Activists are right that alcohol is like any other commodity in which higher prices reduce overall purchases,” Jenkins wrote. “But, it’s moderate drinkers who are most sensitive to prices and the ones most likely to cut back when prices rise. Chronic alcohol abusers are affected very little by price, according to repeated government studies.”

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