KABATA transitions in wake of bill passage

PALMER — Big changes are underway at the Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority, but it’s not clear exactly how it’s all going to shake out.

During the session of the Alaska Legislature that ended in April, lawmakers saw fit to remove responsibility for building and financing the bridge from KABATA. The project was instead transferred to the state’s Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.

Until this year, KABATA had been tasked with working toward a funding model for the project that would see private investors build the span connecting Anchorage and Point MacKenzie. Those investors would recoup their investments through tolls.

Critics pointed to proposed state promises to pay for shortfalls in those toll revenues and said that was tantamount to asking the state to shoulder the risk while the private sector reaped a profit.

At the start of this year’s legislative session, Gov. Sean Parnell proposed jettisoning the so-called public-private partnership and instead funding the $864 million project through roughly equal parts loans, grants and state money.

State financiers liked the idea, as did DOT, and the Legislature signed off, transferring the project to DOT.

But, KABATA spokeswoman Shannon McCarthy said that doesn’t mean the Legislature took away all of KABATA’s responsibilities.

“KABATA still has the toll authority part of its responsibilities,” she said.

Currently, McCarthy said, the authority is working to transfer everything else and the paperwork it entails — studies, permits, and various bits of “intellectual property” — to the state. That takes longer than you’d think. The bridge is a big project with lots of background and history to take into account.

As for what form KABATA will take when its only responsibility is for tolls that won’t be collected until years from now, McCarthy said that’s unclear.

“It’s too early for us to tell what this will look like,” she said.

And they have some time to figure it out.

“The bill doesn’t actually become effective until July 1,” she said.

A regular meeting of KABATA’s audit committee and board of directors scheduled for Fairbanks next week has been moved to Anchorage. McCarthy said both groups have a lot to discuss.

“Part of it is to address issues that are going to result from the change in the statute,” she said.

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