Talkeetna Council hears updates from Palmer, Juneau

This month’s meeting of the Talkeetna Community Council, Inc board of directors included updates from both Palmer and Juneau.

Mat-Su Borough Assembly Member Tam Boeve (BO-vee) updated the council board on the recently passed borough budget.  She calls the new budget “lean,” and says holding the mill rate close to where it was in the current budget will mean cuts to borough services.

The biggest unknown for the borough is what will happen with the state’s school bond debt reimbursement program.  In previous years, the State of Alaska has reimbursed seventy percent of school bond debt to municipalities.  Governor Mike Dunleavy (dun-LAY-vee) has proposed eliminating that reimbursement.  The current compromise budget in the Alaska Legislature would reduce the funding to fifty-fifty.  Tam Boeve says the Assembly passed a “worst case scenario budget” in the event the borough gets stuck with the full bill for school debt.

Boeve also provided an update from Mat-Su Borough Public Works Director Terry Dolan on the Talkeetna Sewer and Water system.  According to notes from Dolan, desludging the sewer lagoons will begin this week.  As a result, the lagoon has stopped discharging, as there are concerns that stirring up the material would lead to failed compliance tests.

In addition to borough news, Jake Almeida, aide to Senator Mike Shower was present at the meeting to provide updates from Juneau.  He says Senator Shower is not currently at the capitol, since he has exhausted all of his leave time from his job as a pilot for FedEx due to the legislature’s special session.  Almeida says Senator Shower is proud of the discussion surrounding criminal justice reform, including the passage of House Bill 49, which effectively repeals and replaces the controversial Senate Bill 91.  He says the priority for crime reform should be a focus on treatment and rehabilitation for drug addiction.

The next meeting of the Talkeetna Community Council is scheduled for Monday, July 1^st at the Talkeetna Public Library.