Port Mac, Talkeetna taxes and transparency; Continuing the conversation with the Mat-Su Borough manager

The Mat-Su Borough certainly has its nay-sayers.

Social media warriors can be harsh. But when you are the leader of a municipality like Borough Manager John Moosey is, you have a target on your back.

Port MacKenzie is an issue that has been sharply criticized over the years. Say the word ferry and teeth will gnash and faces will contort. Over the years an alternative route to Anchorage from the Mat-Su has been explored from the Knik Arm bridge to an Anchorage mayoral candidate’s idea of a zipline connecting the two, but I digress.

Port Mac has been budgeted for $779,000 in the new budget. Citizens cry foul because the borough is investing these resources into a project that has little or no return. A 32-mile rail spur at a cost of $125 million is what we are told could open up the floodgates of opportunity for the beleaguered port.

The Alberta to Alaska railway is the latest temptress to give us hope that Port Mac can move from a budget ball and chain to property taxpayers dream come true.

Where are we on progress with A2A railway?

“We have traded proposals and we have sent them our latest proposal,” according Moosey.

There was a proposal for a 99-year agreement plus two 50-year options.

Moosey stated, “We are at 99 years and the reason is the cost and they need to amortize this. It’s a long-term investment so we feel comfortable with that. If we don’t get A2A then we will look for other options.”

Originally the proposal was for the Alaska Railroad Corporation to build it out and provide rail service. Good luck getting that kind of money from the state.

I spoke with a former member of A2A and he believes that if the rail spur is built out and rail service can extend from the Lower 48 to Alaska, Port Mac has the potential to be the largest port in the nation. Proximity to Asia was his reasoning. Moosey agreed with that assessment.

“We need to find a way to get it done. We’ve invested $184 million into the port. My concern is that a lot of that value is going to be degraded if it just sits for half a decade. Cost is going to go up and is the work going to have to be redone because it’s sitting idle,” Moosey said.

Moosey said that he has a little bit different philosophy on the Port than some of those elected to the assembly.

“The assembly did cut our economic development budget in half and they want to see it go away next year. I’m trying to keep the embers warm but it’s something see…until it pays off, they don’t want to keep dumping money into it. My view is we’re investing long term. I think it’s reasonable to have 1 percent of the budget go to economic development and that would be $1.5 million so we’re not even there yet,” Moosey explained.

In November of 2018, Sean McCoshen of A2A Railway declared he had $125 million to spend on this project. With the idea that the work would begin in the spring of 2019. Three days after that proclamation there was the earthquake. It delayed the process and as we are now in the summer of 2019, a new timeline hasn’t been announced. There is still work to be done elsewhere with government permits and agreements between A2A and Alaska Railroad to open the rail from Alberta through Alaska.

At the November special session introducing McCoshen to the borough, Assemblyman George McKee stated, barring any liability he would propose giving the port to McCoshen because of the revenue spent on the port.

According to Moosey, the borough is not actively trying to sell the port. Moosey explained, “We are looking for opportunities and if someone came and offered something that would… to purchase and it made sense to me I would take that to the assembly.”

The Denali Timber project was a disappointment because it would have covered the expenses at the Port. Moosey said, “They were good to go until the tariffs hit and then the company ran out of money.” The borough did walk away on the contract and Moosey says he would work with them again if the opportunity arises.

In the social media world, rumors were generated that former Alaska Governor Sean Parnell was a secret salesperson for the borough marketing the port.

Moosey states it wasn’t a secret.

“If people come talk to me, I’ll tell them. None of this is a secret. We were working on the port and Larry Persily was hired by Kenai and I thought that was a pretty smart move by them. When Sean did not win the election, surprisingly to many of us, but as manager whoever the elected officials are I have to work with them no matter what. So here’s a person who is six years at the state and every project that came through was at his desk. We did a $4,000 a month consulting contract to number one find financing for the rail, look for business opportunities for Port MacKenzie and some consultation for economic development. When we found out that AGDC moved Port Mac three miles north into a mudhole in their study it was stunning. He worked with various native corps for opportunities. Now, I wish we would of had two to three projects but $4,000 a month to have that assistance I thought was very valuable and I would do that again in a heartbeat,” Moosey said. “Now there’s a reason I didn’t go around saying I hired Gov. Parnell. We still had to work with Gov. Walker and the election was a battle. There were some hard feelings. We were fighting against Gov. Walker’s proposal specifically on what AGDC was saying about Port MacKenzie. I tried to keep it off the front page about who I was working with. The governor’s office would not have worked with us because you’re working with my competition.”

The conversation shifted to the Talkeetna water and sewer situation and the sales tax.

“It’s doing good, we’re able have some revenue to take care of the water and sewer. It was designed to take care of 2,000 customers and it services 150,000 customers. That just doesn’t work so it was helpful that the citizens voted yes on that,” Moosey stated.

There are some in Talkeetna who claim the tax was illegally obtained or they were tricked and also, that the borough isn’t spending the money on the Talkeetna sewer and water district.

“I don’t see how they were tricked. It’s a sales tax for these services. We’re not spending the money on anything other than that. We’re under obligation. We could certainly say now you’re spending $400 a month for water and sewer but that doesn’t work,” Moosey said.

What about the accusation that the money is going to the general fund and a document saying that it could be done?

“There is a difference between what we do and what we can do. The assembly can do anything they want. And they way to stop them is you take them to court. For instance, we proposed a 3 percent sales tax for alcohol and the purpose of that was to put it towards EMS. We had friends who were against that. They said ‘you can’t trust the borough because they will spend it where they want’. Well technically we could but that was not the purpose for putting the 3 percent on booze. It was to help expand EMS. That’s what it comes down to, we can do a lot of things. It’s not our plan. We won’t do it. Just like the air quality thing. I could go in and rip people’s woodstoves out of their homes. It won’t ever happen but I get a search warrant and find you burning garbage I probably could. That’s the whole of not doing something we could so they say these are evil people and they’re going to do it. They’re deceiving you right now because these are their true intentions. We’re just public servants, we’re just trying to serve,” Moosey said.