Voters to decide fate of bonds

September 6, 2005

DARRELL L. BREESE/Frontiersman reporter

WASILLA - New homes are springing up so fast in the Mat-Su Borough that school district officials say they can't keep up - they say they will need eight new schools in three years or the district will have to turn to split shifts, increased class sizes or year-round schooling.

In October, borough officials want voters to authorize a pair of school bonds worth $40.57 million, to construct three new elementary schools.

The school bonds are among $63.6 million worth of proposed bond issues on the ballot earmarked for schools, libraries and animal care throughout the borough.

With rapid growth comes an increased problem with stray and unwanted pets and the borough's animal-care facility is already inadequate. A ballot measure for a $4.6-million bond would pay for construction of a new facility.

Old buildings, lack of space and increasing rent led the borough Assembly to approve a plan that would either renovate or construct six area libraries. A $15.6-million bond would bring changes to the core-area facility in Palmer and erect new libraries in Sutton, Talkeetna, Trapper Creek and Willow, if approved by voters.

If the bonds are all approved, property-tax payers will see an increase of $63.60 per $100,000 value of their property. With the average home in the Palmer-Wasilla area selling for $265,000, homeowners could see their tax bills go up approximately $165.

Cheryl Witaker, who moved from Anchorage to Wasilla with her husband a year ago, is troubled by the increase to their tax bill.

"Property-tax payers can only handle so much," Witaker said. "With the price of gas and everything else going up like crazy, the last thing home owners need is a bigger tax bill."

Despite her objections to the additional tax burden, she recognizes the need for new schools.

"I've got two boys, (3 and 4 years old), who will be going to school soon," she said. "And I don't want them in overcrowded schools. And they both enjoy going to the library, so I guess I will have to support those bonds, no matter how much it might hurt the pocketbook."

Witaker and many local residents will be forced to find a balance between the need for new facilities and having an improved library, school and animal control system when they go to the voting booth in October.

Like the schools, there is a need for the other facilities voters are being asked to fund.

As more people move in, the borough has struggled to keep up with the growing demand on its library system and the increasing number of neglected pets and wandering livestock.

"I think we're way past the point of calling it a shelter anymore," said Lisa Espey, a veterinarian who does work for the Animal Care and Regulation shelter, of the need for a new facility. "It is more like a holding area. We're the home of the Iditarod, the world-champion sled-dog race, yet our shelter is little bigger than a large house."

The warehouse-style shelter quickly fills its 58 dog kennels and 28 cat cages, forcing staff to often turn away unwanted pets.

The current 7,000-square-foot facility puts space at a premium; animals are often screened, vaccinated or treated on the floor next to someone's desk or in a former lunchroom that fills in as a makeshift clinic.

"We are currently operating in a facility that is one-third the size of the national standard for a community of our size," said Keith Rountree, borough director of Public Works. "We should have a building of at least 20,000 square feet."

The situation isn't much better in the borough library system.

Ron Swanson, director of Community Development, told of cramped quarters at borough libraries.

"It is so bad in Trapper Creek that books are stacked all the way to the ceiling," Swanson said. "There is often ice buildup on the books by the door in winter, often damaging them beyond repair.

"None of the facilities have adequate computer connectivity," he added. "During the summer there is typically an all-day line to use the Internet in Talkeetna. And time is limited to 20 minutes or less."

The ballot question calls for the issuance of a bond to finance the construction, major renovation and expansion of several facilities.

€ About $2.3 million will be used to construct a 10,000-square-foot combined library-community hall building in Sutton.

€ Talkeetna and Willow will each have a new 10,000-square-foot facility built using the design model of the Big Lake Library, at a cost of $2.3 million for each facility.

€ Trapper Creek will be able to move out of rented space and into a new $1.6-million joint library-community center facility.

€ The Big Lake library will receive a 4,000-square-foot expansion costing $800,000.

About $6 million of the $15.6-million bond will go toward construction of a central library distribution center in the core area. The library would house a central library intake, storage and distribution center.

"Our library system is very archaic," Swanson told the assembly. "The Big Lake Library is our pride and joy. It's a build-it-and-they-will-come model."

The voters will decide in the Oct. 4 election whether they want the projects.

Contact Darrell L. Breese

at 352-2267 or darrell.breese@ frontiersman.com.