Kenai Peninsula Borough maintenance chief warns $164 million in deferred school and borough repairs is growing cost risk

Acting maintenance director Nick Kemp told the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly on May 19 that the borough’s backlog of deferred maintenance across school and borough facilities is large and growing, costing an estimated $164 million in identified deficiencies.

Kemp said the borough has identified hundreds of deficiencies and described deferred upkeep as a long-term cost driver: “Deferred maintenance might look like a manageable piecemeal strategy when budgets are tight,” he said, “but...postponing critical repairs and updates isn’t saving money, it’s piling it on.”

Kemp gave a long list of recent and planned work across 43 district and borough buildings, including gym-floor and classroom flooring projects, boiler and envelope repairs, LED lighting upgrades and elevator work. He outlined a FY‑26 capital request that includes $1.48 million for HVAC/DDC upgrades, $570,000 for area-wide design projects and a total capital ask of $4,124,000 for area-wide needs such as roofing, flooring and water-quality upgrades.

Assembly members pressed for access to the borough’s prioritized deficiency list and discussed the difficulty of budgeting for long-lived assets when building closures or major bond projects might change which facilities remain in service. Mayor Michicky and others noted the borough needs time to clarify which buildings will remain in service before committing to large-scale repairs.

Kemp said the maintenance shop is working through the long list by setting priorities but warned that splitting projects into piecemeal repairs raises future costs: “What might cost a manageable repair today can morph into an expensive overhaul tomorrow,” he said.

Assembly members praised the maintenance crew’s recent work and urged the administration to pursue a longer-term plan to reduce the backlog, noting the bond-funded projects already underway and the need to align maintenance priorities with decisions on which facilities will remain in service.

Kemp also described several pilot approaches — including expanded use of calcium chloride on high-traffic roads and in-house measurement tools to verify gravel and grade — intended to reduce recurring maintenance costs and improve quality assurance on capital work.

The assembly asked for more detailed, accessible versions of the borough’s deficiency inventory and for follow-up information on how capital requests map to the prioritized list. No binding decisions or votes were taken at the session.