PALMER -- The Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska's fastest growing region, has eight new emergency medical responders and a bump in school funding -- all without taking property taxes to a revenue cap.
The borough Assembly Wednesday night approved a budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 after holding several public hearings in Palmer, Wasilla and Willow. The proposed budget released in late April totaled $400.9 million, though that's expected to rise with nearly two dozen amendments added by the Assembly.
Among the changes: a plan to remount four aging ambulances for $540,000; higher rates at the Brett Memorial Ice Arena; a full-time recycling coordinator position; and higher landfill tipping fees, which are expected to trigger higher garbage hauling rates for home customers.
The Assembly also approved the new emergency responder positions and allowed the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District to keep more than $10 million that will roll over from an existing fund balance. District officials say the school board already committed $5.9 million in its preliminary budget and is bracing for a $2 million funding reduction if the current state operating budget holds.
The Assembly set the boroughwide property taxing "mill rate" at 9.984 -- $9.984 per every $1,000 in assessed property value -- a hair below the 10 mils that members considered a dealbreaker but an increase from the current rate. The revenue cap this year was 10.323.
Borough Mayor Larry DeVilbiss signaled Wednesday that he intends to veto parts of the budget.
He has until the Assembly's next meeting Wednesday to issue his vetoes. The Assembly needs a two-thirds majority to override. Among potential veto targets is a new taxing rate for the Willow Fire Department that's opposed by local fire supervisors.
Borough managers warned during the budget process of looming financial risks including more reductions in state funding, unknown costs of the M/V Susitna ferry and an as-yet unresolved lawsuit filed by emergency responders against the borough over Public Employee Retirement System benefits. They also pointed to tax breaks that shaved millions from the borough's revenue stream: new property tax exemptions for seniors and disabled veterans and a new permanent vehicle registration tax.
Nonetheless, Assembly members tucked several home-district projects into the final budget. Among them: $150,000 pulled from repairs on the borough building to allow a nonprofit clay target shooting association to buy land for a shooting range in Meadow Lakes.
Another $160,000 from the building repair funds went toward maintenance at the borough port out on Point MacKenzie. Issues include rock riprap that's "coming apart," Big Lake Assembly member Dan Mayfield said.
The port brings in little income now but boosters point to future industry potential such as an LNG facility or a railroad extension linking the port with the Parks Highway near Houston.
The Assembly also approved a new filming production permit with a $500 fee that gives the borough two weeks of lead time before companies start filming here.
DeVilbiss, a former Division of Agriculture director who still owns farmland on Lazy Mountain, had a personal observation on that front at the close of Wednesday's meeting: "When I left the farm, Animal Planet was up there taking pictures of cows."