Assembly hears CIP nominations, school district deferred‑maintenance totals and unusually high utility charges at base‑leased schools

The Assembly Finance Committee on Feb. 6 reviewed the mayor’s proposed FY26 Capital Improvement Program (CIP) changes, heard school district officials summarize facility needs and deferred maintenance, and questioned borough staff about unusually high utility invoices at base‑leased schools.

Why it matters: The FY26 CIP guides which capital projects the borough will fund and when. The Committee’s discussion also focused on whether the borough has adequate information to prioritize school facility projects, whether the borough or district should lead condition assessments, and how recurring utility costs at schools on military bases should be handled.

What the administration presented: David Bradley, director (Public Works / Design & Construction), reviewed how the borough evaluates CIP nominations and the technical scoring panel that ranks projects. He said the FY25 process produced 105 approved projects for the CIP and that the FY26 program being discussed largely rolls FY25 items forward into the FY26 year (first four years are the work plan that automatically rolls forward if funded). Bradley described proposed FY26 appropriations totaling roughly $17.8 million in new FY26 line items and explained fund‑code changes and timing shifts for several projects, including park work, the SS Nenana restoration and a proposed scoping allocation for a community rec center/fieldhouse turf.

School district presentation and deferred maintenance: Andy DeGraw, chief operations officer for the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District, and Jay Carrion, the district’s executive director of facilities, told the assembly the district has roughly $367 million in deferred maintenance using the state DEED replacement/renewal formula and the district’s 20‑year projection. They emphasized that the recent decisions to close three schools were not driven primarily by building condition: “none of the schools that the Board of Education voted to close … was a situation where the financial or the physical condition of the building was the primary factor,” DeGraw said. He added that district priorities were set through a public framework and that the district had previously elevated projects such as North Pole High mechanical work in earlier nomination cycles.

Committee concern about process and priorities: Multiple Assembly members said the borough and the district have a gap in how priorities are communicated. Bradley and mayoral staff described the borough scoring and ranking procedure and said technical scores are only one factor in final CIP placement. Members asked for clearer condition survey data to help prioritize life‑safety items — leaking roofs, failing boilers and fire‑safety upgrades — and requested that the borough and district work on a joint approach that makes building‑condition information more transparent and actionable.

Utilities and base leases: Public Works staff presented limited months of utility data for schools recently transferred to borough control (Joy, Anderson, Ben Eielson). Bradley said electricity usage dropped at some schools after borough takeover but noted sharp increases in per‑kilowatt rates billed by Eielson Air Force Base; for one set of invoices he cited a billed rate of about $0.55 per kilowatt‑hour for electricity at Ben Eielson, versus roughly $0.25/kWh for Joy during comparable months. The borough said it did not receive Eielson invoices for those months until very recently and that October–November invoices arrived only last Monday, limiting their ability to analyze trends.

Leases and legal complexity: Borough legal staff told the committee Anderson’s lease with Eielson expired about a year ago, but that Eielson has taken a position that the borough remains obligated under the lease and, in some communications, has stated the borough must demolish the facility if it terminates use. The borough said it is negotiating the lease status and is exploring options (returning facilities to the Department of Defense, subleasing, or seeking other users). The borough also noted the Ben Eielson lease runs through Feb. 1930. Staff said returning, leasing or selling buildings on base is heavily constrained by base property rules.

SS Nenana restoration: The borough asked for an additional $500,000 to complete the SS Nenana restoration after contractor contingency changes and unanticipated rot consumed prior appropriations. Officials said roughly $3.2 million had already been expended or encumbered on the restoration and that the requested $500,000 would allow the project to be completed and remove the contractor’s shrink‑wrap from the vessel so the public could use the structure safely; staff warned there will be ongoing maintenance costs if the borough retains the vessel.

Other items discussed: Bradley reviewed a number of park projects and borough facilities projects that the administration proposed for FY26, including park replacements, trail easements, the Bircho Hill generator, and central recycling facility scoping. Several assembly members urged that, in the wake of school consolidations, the borough prioritize repurposing existing school buildings and coordinate a single condition‑survey approach so the Assembly can have an accurate cost‑based prioritization.

Ending: The administration said the CIP resolution will be forwarded to the Assembly for public hearing on Feb. 27. Staff agreed to return with additional condition survey data, full invoice detail for base‑leased utilities, and clearer options for how the borough might handle utility and lease obligations for schools on military bases.