Education, parks bonds will be on ballot

MAT-SU -- More than $75 million in bonds will go before Mat-Su Borough voters in the October municipal election, thanks to a unanimous decision by the Mat-Su Borough Assembly Tuesday.

Assembly members voted to place four bond packages on the ballot, three that would finance construction, renovations or renewals at area schools and one that would pay for park and recreational improvements across the borough. If all were adopted, the added cost to taxpayers would amount to about $75 for every $100,000 of assessed property.

The school bonds are part of a package voters in municipalities across the state will be voting on this year. In the November 2002 general election, state voters were asked whether the state should issue bonds for design, construction and major maintenance on educational and museum facilities. Voters, in that election, approved the measure by about 60 percent. Although the Mat-Su Borough didn't have any projects in the initial package of bonds that was approved by the voters, the measure's approval allows the state to repay up to 60 percent of approved construction projects, or 70 percent for qualifying projects.

Twelve projects were selected for the four education bond packages and grouped by the assembly at a May 13 special meeting. The packages are arranged according to the intent of the project -- four new construction projects are grouped together, but separately from two construction projects for new charter schools. At a May 13 meeting the assembly heard information from Ivan Moore of Ivan Moore Research, an Anchorage pollster hired to feel out the public's mood for school bond projects. A poll Moore conducted showed moderate support for the school bond packages, but when the charter schools were broken out of that package, the support levels increased.

In addition to the new construction projects, nearly $6.5 million was combined into a package that would pay for maintenance and renovation projects at area schools, the third package that will appear on the ballot.

The final school-related package that will go before voters totals $3.65 million, and would pay for remodeling the former Sherrod School in Palmer into an administration building.

Borough Finance Director Tammy Clayton told assembly members it was possible that the actual cost of issuing all the bonds could differ in the end. Each bond package lists bond issuance costs totaling between $650,000 and $150,000. That's the costs, Clayton said, if the bonds were issued separately. If more than one bond package passes, she said, her staff will seek to issue the bonds at one time, which would cut down considerably on the bond issuance costs.

"If they're issued together, it will probably be about two-thirds less," Clayton said Wednesday. That means more than $1 million could be knocked off the $1.5 million total bond issuance costs of each bond package that will be before voters on Oct. 7.

Along with the education bonds, borough voters will be asked to consider about $5.75 million in parks and recreation bonds. The assembly passed that measure unanimously as well, but not without objections from some meeting attendees and a little clarification from the city of Wasilla. At a previous meeting, assembly members were advised that any parks and recreation improvements that took place within the city should be able to be deeded or held by the borough. Wasilla officials were reluctant to turn over a portion of the sports complex they're building to the borough, but hoped some of the bond money could be used to develop the project. They requested that $500,000 be used to develop outdoor fields around the sports complex, along with a warming pavilion for cool-weather sports.

"The city is willing to step up to the plate and have the borough own the land [the improvements are on], as required," Wasilla Mayor Dianne Keller told the borough assembly. "But we've gone one step further to pay for the operations and maintenance."

Keller said although the city council hasn't appropriated additional funding or passed a resolution in support of paying to maintain the fields owned by the borough, she's spoken with some council members, who feel the idea makes sense. The city also requested $400,000 for trail improvements and upgrades within the city.

Although Keller and others who spoke on behalf of the city were supportive of their portion of the project, others who testified at Tuesday's meeting were less supportive.

"I'm not against parks and recreation … what I am opposed to is the borough bonding for the city of Palmer and the city of Wasilla," Jean Woods told the assembly. She said she feared the borough taxpayers would have to shoulder more of the burden than simply paying for bonds if the proposed Palmer ice rink were to fail financially.

Lucille Frey said she, too, was opposed to the borough bonding for city projects, but was more concerned with the simple economics of the situation.

"It's nice to have some of these things," Frey said, "but there are needs and then there are wants … I can't really afford all these millions of dollars for all these bonds -- each one of these items is not much, but it adds up."

Wasilla dispatch coordinator and candidate for borough mayor Charlie Fannon said he saw the cities' inclusion on the bond package as a matter of fairness.

"Yes, the borough residents do support our city [through sales taxes], but a lot of that goes back to the borough," Fannon said, explaining that Wasilla's police force, for example, keeps an eye on more than 42,000 people using their roads each day, not just the 6,000 Wasilla residents. "We support you, and you really need to support us. You need to set an example and maintain it as well."