Northern service areas strapped for cash

MAT-SU -- In addition to the recent news of a loss of federal funds originally thought to be earmarked for Mat-Su Borough road improvements, there are transportation issues afflicting the northern communities of the Valley surrounding Talkeetna and Trapper Creek.

These areas have suffered from insufficient road maintenance funding in the past, but this year might signify a culmination of their woes.

"I have a real concern in the coming year about providing even minimal service to these areas," said Don Shiesl, Borough Public Works director.

Small communities north of the Valley depend heavily on federal money to keep their roads passable, Shiesl said.

"Right now, they're barely moving snow out there," he said. Shiesl said transportation issues in the north are often complicated by the lack of viable road boards in those communities, and that a capital improvement plan also needs to be drawn up for those areas.

Shiesl presented a plan at a recent meeting of the borough's Transportation Advisory Board detailing a possible consolidation of the northern service areas into a single unit. This would allow a greater share of tax revenues to be put toward maintenance and improvement.

"Consolidation would make the service areas easier to administer," Shiesl said. "If we can make it into one area, it'll be easier to move resources around."

Shiesl said the consolidation plan isn't set in stone yet, and if his colleagues had any other ideas to deal with the lack of funding in northern communities, he would be happy to hear them. He did, however, say that he thought there was no easy solution.

"This has been a long-term problem, and it'll take a long time to fix it," he said. He added that even a consolidation plan wouldn't solve the problem entirely, and certainly wouldn't solve it quickly.

"Right now, the only way I can build roads up there is with money under the state dust control program," Shiesl said, referring to a statewide vehicle tax levied for road pavement programs.

Shiesl added that the northern communities have been in rather dire financial straits recently, and higher taxes on road service won't solve the problem.

Transportation taxes in the north Valley are already considerably higher than in more urban areas. According to the 2005 borough budget, the Trapper Creek road service area has a proposed levy of 3.4 mills for 2005, compared to Palmer's proposed 0.7 and Wasilla's 0.4. Talkeetna's proposed levy is 2.67 mills, with Big Lake only slightly lower.

These funding difficulties must be dealt with in addition to the Valley's current woes involving the loss of federally earmarked funds for road improvement. This loss stems from some unusual wording in the Omnibus Spending Bill passed in February. The wording dictated that money earmarked for state projects would be subtracted from, not added to, the state's reserve of federal funding.

Alaska lost more than $61 million due to the spending bill snafu, and the problem is still being addressed by the legislature. Valley projects that felt the squeeze include the Lucille Street and Mack Drive improvements in Wasilla and the Parks Highway improvement from Crusey Street to Lucas Road, in addition to $3 million for general road improvements around the area.

Shiesl said the earmark loss would have some impact over road improvement in the northern area of the borough, but that the impact would be felt more over the long term.

Contact Daniel Spoth at daniel.spoth@frontiersman.com.