Capital budget sidesteps MAT-SU

MAT-SU—The first draft of the Senate Finance Committee's capital budget sidesteps the MAT-SU, the fastest growing community in Alaska.

“We're very very disappointed,” said Borough Manager John Duffy.

All that's in the first draft for MAT-SU is funding for two State road projects that happen to be in the Borough. One of them is for rut repair on the Glenn, the other for reconstruction of Trunk Road. And some funding for prison utilities.

The cities of Palmer and Wasilla fared only a little better. Houston got nothing.

“Every year the MAT-SU stands out in the state as far as growth and large projects,” Duffy said. “We build a new school every 18 months. Our State roads are among the most dangerous in the Alaska and have too many vehicles on them. Our road bond projects would have helped that, but so far MAT-SU voters have been ignored. In October voters agreed to pay 30 percent of the cost for road projects that help reduce traffic and increase safety on State roads if the State would pitch in 70 percent of the costs. There is not a penny for these voter-approved projects,” Duffy said.

Several MAT-SU projects are statewide legacy projects that would add billions to state coffers and bring hundreds of jobs, yet there's no mention of the projects in the draft Senate Finance budget.

The Port MacKenzie Rail project would fill state treasury with $18 billion in revenues through years of mining taxes, corporate taxes, and royalties. Yet not a nickel is provided for construction of this critical project.

Even funding to the state's biggest construction project was cut. The Goose Creek Correctional Center is adding 350 permanent jobs. The project creates up to 700 construction jobs, part-time and full time, adding a $100 million in payroll to the local and state economy. Funding for utilities to the prison was cut from $20 million in the Governor's budget to $6 million.

“We're not investing in our future. We're not investing in our communities or economic development. We know our Legislative Delegation is working hard to address the shortcomings in this draft of the budget bill,” Duffy said.

For more information call Borough Manager John Duffy at 745-9689 or Public Affairs Director Patty Sullivan at 745-9577 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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