The Mat-Su Borough Assembly met Tuesday evening to discuss the proposed 2022 Fiscal Year Budget and to vote on a variety of last-minute amendments.
Assembly Member George McKee moved to raise the Borough Mayor’s salary from $27,500 to $50,000, saying his goal was to expand the Mat-Su Borough from a small bedroom community of Anchorage to a big bedroom community of Anchorage. He also expressed that he would like the Mayor to travel more and represent the Borough in Juneau.
“What has happened, it’s not that Mayor Halter or Mayor DeVilbiss did not do what was expected of them. Our expectations have changed. Before we said, really, a part time Mayor would be fine. We need somebody who is going to, in fact, appear before the state legislature and has the stature of an elected official to plead our case for what we want from the state.”
Assembly Member Rob Yundt, proposed to increase the Mayor’s salary even higher, to $73,157.41. He believes the higher salary carries with it the expectation that the Mayor will also act as an informal Economic Development Coordinator for the Mat-Su Borough.
Despite objection by Assembly Member Stephanie Nowers, citing the limited ability of the Mayor to influence private economic activity in the Borough, the 167 percent pay increase for the Mayor passed.
However, the Assembly then failed to pass an increase to the travel budget for the Mayor, which would have aided him in promoting the Borough statewide.
Community Enrichment was another hotly debated item. Assembly Member, Mokie Tew, influenced by public testimony in support of the program during the Assembly’s meeting at Susitna-Valley High School, moved to restore funds to Community Enrichment.
Assembly Member Tim Hale also vigorously supported funding the program.
“This is another thing, like libraries, this is exactly why we have local government. These are the kind of things that local government does well and that we want it to do. I’m gonna support this amendment and I’m going to speak to my Community Council in Glacier View and tell them about the program, and see if they can get something started out there as well, because it sounds amazing.”
Assembly Member Tam Boeve felt the funding disproportionally benefited the community of Talkeetna. Although she approved of the concept of Community Enrichment, she felt the Mat-Su School District should be funding the program instead of the Borough.
The amendment narrowly passed and funding for the Community Enrichment Program was restored.
Assembly Member Jesse Sumner moved to reduce proposed funding for the Sutton, Talkeetna and Trapper Creek libraries. After much deliberation, the vote on this amendment was delayed until Thursday, May 13th.
Also delayed until Thursday, are proposed reductions in travel expenses for many of the Fire Service Areas and Emergency Services. Those agencies use travel funds for ongoing training.
The Assembly will re-convene on Thursday to discuss the tabled items.
