School bond package postponed

MAT-SU -- Voters may be looking at an early summer election to consider the proposed $80-million school bond package, as the Mat-Su Borough Assembly, Tuesday, postponed setting an election date for the bond issue until after a Jan. 21 work session where the proposal can be discussed more fully.

"There've been some issues that came up today from staff with numbers," Borough Mayor Tim Anderson told assembly members before suggesting that a work session be set to discuss the matter at a 3 p.m. meeting before the Jan. 21 regular assembly meeting.

This is the second time the matter has been postponed. Part of the reason for the delay, Borough Manager John Duffy explained Wednesday, is that the assembly was not able to have a discussion on the bond proposal while it remained on the list for introduction.

"We kind of got caught in a catch-22," Duffy said.

As an item for introduction, the topic was not open for discussion -- the discussion is geared to come after the public hearing. But, Duffy explained, introducing the topic and setting a public hearing meant certain aspects of the ordinance had to be agreed on -- namely how the bond package will be structured.

The structure of the bond package is the primary issue that will be discussed at the 3 p.m. work session. As the ordinance reads now, the $80-million bond package would be on the agenda for voters to either approve or disapprove as one big package, to be either voted up or down as a whole. Some assembly members feel the package should be broken up, so projects such as $2.1 million for maintenance projects including a new sprinkler system for Palmer Junior Middle School would not be lumped in with other projects, like $19 million for the proposed career center.

Changing the bond package from one group of bonds to two or three groups, for example, would change the overall cost, because a portion of the money included in the bond package must go toward bond issuance costs.

The work session, Duffy said, will give the assembly a chance to discuss the matter and decide how they should structure the proposal before it is advertised as a public hearing.

The assembly unanimously approved the matter with no discussion, but Anderson later said he suspected the assembly, after ironing out the details of the bond proposal, may set a May special election date.