Welcome to the demographic hot spot of the State. Employment growth rose four percent in 2014. More than a third of the new housing in the State was build here in 2013, as well as 40 percent in 2011. Anchorage may have lost five percent in school enrollment.

Welcome to the breadbasket of Alaska. The Mat-Su Borough’s unique combination of light, water, and glacial till–with its micro mineralization–makes this the home of some of the world’s largest vegetables. Where else are you going to find cabbages that even come close to a hundred pounds or an 18.98 pound carrot that breaks the Guinness World record. These vegetables are not just monsters but are the best tasting. Whether you are on the roads or in our wilderness you will be intrigued by the variety and vastness of opportunity. It is a land nearly the size of Scotland but with the time footprint of only about a hundred years. Our resources are, for the most part, as untouched as the day God made them. The secret is out though. We are one of the fastest growing areas of the USA and were documented in the 2010 census as the fastest growing area of the State. We have a capacity to outgrow even Anchorage. If you want to be part of Alaska’s future, you want to be in the Mat-Su Borough. Our new rail project to our port development, and potential State hydro  development is going to make this the place to be for jobs and dreams fulfilled.

This summer, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough will move soil on four segments of a new 32-mile railroad, creating up to 200 jobs and producing $116 million in construction work.

New lessees at Port MacKenzie will increase freight traffic at the deepwater dock as well as begin building infrastructure. Central Alaska Energy and PacArctic Logistics have positioned themselves at the port for resource development.
Nine miles up from the port, 190 new jobs at Goose Creek Correctional Center weren’t there a year ago. The state facility—brought about by the Mat-Su Borough—earned a national award for construction from the Design-Build Institute of America.
Closer to our seat of government in Palmer, the historic Dorothy Swanda Jones building is welcoming a new 18,000-square foot addition. By summer, the territorial schoolhouse, dating back to 1935, will have an assembly chamber expansive enough for 350 citizens. On education, more than $214 million in new schools and upgrades are getting underway.

At Hatcher Pass, 7.5 km of designed trails have created a stir of activity for Nordic skiing and tourism. In a single ski event 500 visitors enjoyed the new Government Peak Recreation Area situated above it all with sweeping views from the trail, of Knik Glacier the Hay Flats and the Chugach Range. This summer construction begins on a Chalet/Adventure Center.
Over the next two years, transportation infrastructure will undergo transformational expansion. Up to $54 million in Borough road construction projects will get underway on vital connector roads from Butte to Sutton to Knik-Fairview to Talkeetna and more.
Such monumental effort at taming the frontier makes all of us in the Mat-Su Borough have a stake in this sometimes austere yet often beautiful place.

The Assembly recognized that there would be local ramifications from the strained national and global economy. Fastidious spending cuts produced a lean budget for fiscal year 2010. The Assembly  held the mill rate steady, despite increasing expenses and demands for services in Alaska’s fastest growing community.