Talkeetna ice rink project is over budget, but more funds could be coming

Correction:  A previous version of this story included a photo of the Willow ice rink project.  It has been updated to show the Talkeetna rink.

Talkeetna’s new ice rink project is out of money and not yet ready for youth hockey, but a borough official says that could change.

In 2016, borough voters approved a twenty-two million dollar recreational bond package. While most of that money went to work on pools in Palmer and Wasilla and the Brett Memorial Ice arena, about one-and-a-half million dollars was for upgrades to the ice rinks in Talkeetna and Willow.

Now, the Talkeetna project is over budget by about $35,000, which has some locals fearing that it will not be completed. There has even been a crowd-funding page set up to cover the gap.

The project overrun is in the funds meant for the dasher boards that run around the perimeter of ice rinks. Eric Phillips, Community Development Director for the Mat-Su Borough, says the extra cost came from unexpected soil work that had to be done before the project could be built. He says the dasher boards were bid as an add-on, and not part of the project itself, but that he has found a potential solution.

According to Phillips, there is sufficient surplus in a different completed project that would cover the cost of the boards. He says the capital projects division will present the transfer of funds to the borough assembly at its next meeting. If the assembly approves, the money would be transferred to the Talkeetna rink project.

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