Just like the State of Alaska, the Kenai Peninsula Borough is having to face some harsh fiscal realities with the price of oil still below $50 per barrel.
Borough Mayor Mike Navarre said his Administration’s FY16 budget will be introduced in a few weeks, after the State settles some of its figures.
The local impact of low oil prices will mostly been seen in reduced state funding for projects and schools. Navarre said the proposal to cut school bonding may also come into play.
KPB Mayor Navarre: “If we can’t bond and get reimbursed by the state for some of those bonds, and we still need to do them, then it comes 100% out of either our fund balance or out of our tax base, so if we have to do those things and the State’s not assisting, then it comes entirely to us.”
Possible school bonding projects include re-roofing in Homer and renovations around asbestos at Kenai Middle School. Navarre said those projects are on hold for now.
The bond freeze is largely in response to a $59 million package to be voted on in Anchorage April 7.
