Mat Su Borough proposes 2011 budget

The Mat Su Borough Assembly will meet Tuesday for public hearings on the Fiscal Year 2011 Budget. Another meeting will be held May 6^th and the Assembly deliberates adoption of the budget on May 10^th and 12^th.

Manager John Duffy says, of this next year’s budget, 25 percent of the budget is local government, 75 percent of it is education.  If approved, the Borough’s budget includes an eight hundred thousand dollar increase for the school district.

The proposed budget shows an expected decrease in accommodation tax revenue…down from the 2009 actual revenue .

Duffy says as a result of earlier studies and planning, there is now a trails division that will properly sign and map trails.

There is a proposed .6 mil increase in the areawide mil levy and non area wide has .02 proposed mill levy increase.

2011 is the first year that residents will start paying for the school bond for security upgrades that passed in 2008.  That, and overall operating expenses rising, Duffy says accounts for at least part of the budget increase.

Residents can comment on the budget at any of the scheduled public hearings.