The Mat-Su Borough’s initial budget proposal for the fiscal year that begins this July is in, and the assembly has begun hearing public comment. One item currently on the budgetary chopping block is a popular program specific to the Northern Valley.
The Mat-Su Borough Assembly’s budget season has officially begun. Tuesday night saw the first round of public hearings on what borough residents want to see their government spend money on in the coming year. There will be multiple additional budget hearings, including one at Su Valley Junior-Senior High School on May 6th.
Overall, the borough’s budget has grown by a little more than three percent, with a final price tag of almost $425 million. Most of the increase would go to capital projects and school district operations. The operational side of the borough itself has a proposed budget smaller than last year’s. One of the items missing from that section is $27,500 for Community Enrichment programs.
Community enrichment is currently unique to Talkeetna, Trapper Creek, and Willow, and will be familiar to many in the area under the old name of Community Schools. In the cases of Talkeetna and Trapper Creek, it’s still administered through the school district. Elliot Hunker is the coordinator for the Talkeetna program. He describes how it is able to utilize school facilities for the broader community.
“These buildings, say Talkeetna Elementary, have all sorts of classrooms and computers and white boards and technology, and then the gym and all the gym equipment, and the ice rink. And the idea is that in the hours outside of classes, we can open up these facilities to the public.”
Community Enrichment offers a broad spectrum of programs, including how-to classes, fitness activities, and entertainment opportunities. Without health clubs in the small communities of the Susitna Valley, it represents the only access to things like a gym with on-site showers for many in the area.
Most offerings are either free or low-cost to participants. It’s Hunker’s job to coordinate those activities, acquire additional funds when needed, and promote them to the public.
Just like everything else, Community Enrichment has had to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic, but that activities have continued. He says in the last quarter, more than 120 people attended various events, not counting two drive-in movies that took place after the quarter ended. Hunker says Northern Valley residents are no strangers to cabin fever even outside a pandemic, and that lessons learned in the past year can be carried forward.
Elliot Cabin Fever.mp3 (30s) “Before COVID, there were plenty of people that lived up the tracks—or just down Birch Creek Boulevard—that are really hungry to gather and share, learn and recreate together. Having to transition to Zoom has been…a blessing, too. I would love, in the future if, say there are blizzard conditions out there we don’t have to cancel the program, we can just tell everyone, ‘I’m sending out the Zoom invite. Let’s continue to do this.’”
While there is significant fundraising that goes on outside of borough money, Elliot Hunker says Community Enrichment has a much easier time being officially tied to both the borough and school district when it comes to things like insurance and facility use.
“Anybody can go to the school district or the borough and apply to have a facility use permit…but there is a process. Your event has to be vetted, and they will say yes or no. As a school district and borough program, we are able to go in right away and book time on ice, or in the gym, or in a classroom. We’re just able to make things happen so much quicker and easier.”
The borough assembly will decide the fate of funding for community enrichment as well as the rest of the budget next month after its public hearings have concluded. We’ll continue to cover the process as it moves forward.
