Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly approves several FY2026 budget amendments, continues deliberations to May 13

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly on May 8 considered Ordinance 25-25, the borough—s FY2026 spending plan, and approved a set of targeted amendments while postponing final adoption until a continuation on May 13.

The assembly approved $75,000 for a repeat firearms-safety training program for residents, $30,000 to fund disc-golf facility improvements at the Alcountra/Alcatra (Alcountra) sports complex, a $63,910 increase to convert a seasonal community-cleanup position into a full-time coordinator, a $48,000 walking-trail project behind the Willow Library, and a $530,000 transfer from the land-management permanent fund to buy and make safety improvements to the Big Lake Recreation Center. Several other proposed budget changes, including proposals to cut the borough—s local education contribution and to fund meeting-room acoustics at the Willow Library, failed.

Why it matters: The package of amendments shifts how the borough spends property-tax and dedicated non-area-wide dollars across parks and recreation, public safety training, and code-compliance/community-cleanup work. Assembly members debated the tradeoffs between keeping a larger undesignated fund balance, making these one-time investments or staffing upgrades, and the borough—s share of school funding. Several votes were split and several amendments were adopted even after attempts to reduce their amounts.

What the assembly approved and rejected

Votes at a glance (selected amendments and motions considered May 8, 2025) - Amendment 5 (firearms safety training) — Passed. Motion text read into the record: increase an area-wide non-departmental transfer and add a capital project of $75,000 to provide firearms safety training to residents; "This project will decrease the proposed fund balance and will not increase the mill rate." Assembly attempted a secondary amendment to reduce the amount to $50,000; the reduction failed and the $75,000 amendment ultimately passed.

- Amendment 6 (Mat-Su Disc Golf Association capital project) — Passed. Motion text read into the record: increase the area-wide non-departmental transfer appropriation by $30,000 and add a capital project "Mat Su Disc Golf Association grant for $30,000 to be used for obtaining contracted services for disc golf improvements." Recorded opposition included Assemblymembers McKee, Hale and Nowers.

- Amendment 7 (Community cleanup staffing) — Passed (as amended). The assembly converted one seasonal/on-call position into a full-time community-cleanup coordinator. After a secondary amendment (strike $30,000; insert $63,910) the revised amendment passed; the change was described repeatedly in discussion as converting existing part-time/on-call staffing into a permanent full-time position to support a diversion program with the district attorney—s office and to centralize multiple cleanup functions.

- Amendment 8 (Talkeetna Road service area) — Passed. Motion (read by the clerk) increased the annual road-maintenance contract by $47,530 and reappropriated project funds from a capital project into the operating budget for the Talkeetna Road service area.

- Amendment 9 (Willow Library walking trail) — Passed. Motion added a capital project of $48,000 for design and construction of an access walking trail behind the Willow Library to provide a secondary ingress/egress and pedestrian access to the senior center; the project was funded from the non-area-wide fund.

- Amendment 10 (Willow Library meeting room acoustics) — Failed. Motion would have added $25,000 for meeting-room acoustic improvements; the clerk recorded that the amendment failed with Assemblymembers Bernier and Hale in support.

- Amendment 11 (Big Lake Recreation Center funding) — Passed. Motion transferred $530,000 from the land-management permanent fund to the land-management capital project "Big Lake Recreation Center" for acquisition and health-and-safety improvements; the amendment was recorded as carried with Assemblymember Bernier opposed.

- Amendment 12 (reduce proposed local education contribution from a 4% increase to a 2% increase) — Failed. Sponsor argued the borough is already providing well above the state—s statutory minimum; opponents said cutting local contribution undermines school operations amid state funding uncertainty. The clerk recorded the motion as failed.

- Amendment 13 (mayor-proposed cut to school contribution to hold it flat) — Failed. A separate mayoral motion to cut the proposed school contribution by 4% (to keep school contribution flat to prior year) did not prevail.

- Amendment 14 (reduce school increase to 3%) — Failed.

- Amendment 15 (symbolic $1 cut to the school budget) — Passed (symbolic). Sponsor described the motion as a message; the clerk recorded the measure as passing with one member opposed.

- Amendment 16 (reduce undesignated/"fund balance" target to $250,000) — Passed. Sponsor moved to lower the projected fund balance from $404,601 to $250,000; the motion passed with two members recorded in opposition.

- Amendment 17 (reduce Palmer Airport assistance from $50,000 to $25,000) — Failed.

- Procedural/continuation: The assembly voted to continue final action on Ordinance 25-25 to a continuation meeting on May 13, 2025, so members could finalize figures and any remaining adjustments.

Selected discussion points and staff figures cited - Firearms training demand and waiting list: Russ Scribe, purchasing director, reported early sign-up data from the prior round: "we had 300 slots... 475 people that had signed up" (he said several people did not show and the contractor added classes to meet demand). Staff said the program was rated positively by participants and that demand exceeded available slots.

- Community-cleanup staffing: Jason Ortiz, deputy director of planning, told the assembly the part-time/on-call cleanup position had worked roughly 700 hours in the prior year (the position was budgeted at 1,000 hours). The sponsor and staff framed the full-time coordinator as necessary to expand a diversion program with the district attorney—s office and to centralize cleanup work now scattered across borough divisions.

- Land-management permanent fund and Big Lake: Staff explained the land-management permanent fund is funded by proceeds from borough land sales and accrues interest; the amendment would apply $530,000 from that fund to acquire and make safety improvements to the Big Lake Recreation Center. Staff and counsel noted the assembly sets policy for use of the permanent fund; historically the assembly has sometimes appropriated corpus as well as interest.

- Mill rate and fund-balance context: Before the final continuation, staff reported an estimated area-wide mill rate of about 8.512 and an undesignated fund balance of approximately $404,601. After the package of amendments and the fund-balance adjustment (amendment 16), staff reported a modest downward change in the average homeowner—s change in property taxes to an increase of about $69 (from roughly $73 before that amendment), using the borough—s sample single-family residence assumption.

Quotes from the meeting (selected) - Jeremy Ratliff, public commenter on disc golf: "I like disc golf, and I like to play at El Contra... we're just here tonight to just talk about El Contra disc golf complex and... request for funds and just what it means to our family."

- Rhiannon Fabrello, Mat-Su Disc Golf Association secretary: "These improvements... aren't just nice to have... they are necessary if we wanna preserve the course as a safe accessible space for everybody."

- Russ Scribe, Purchasing Director (on firearms training signups): "We had 300 slots... we had 475 people that had signed up, so, well in excess of 50% extra people... the contractor actually went ahead and added classes to make that up."

- Jason Ortiz, Deputy Director of Planning (on community-cleanup staffing and diversion): "Diversion program requires, commitment all year round of building relationships, working out the arrangements with the district attorney... there's plenty of work. There's not a question of whether or not they're gonna be doing work."

How the assembly framed priorities Assembly members split along fiscal-conservatism and investment lines. Members arguing for the amendments emphasized community demand, safety, and existing deferred maintenance; members opposed emphasized preserving a larger unassigned fund balance as a buffer against revenue shortfalls and questioned whether the borough should be the primary funder of some projects that could be pursued through other grants or capital-improvement planning.

Next steps The assembly continued Ordinance 25-25 for final action to a continuation meeting scheduled for May 13, 2025, to finalize numbers and to allow staff to prepare updated mill-rate and fund-balance figures.

Ending The meeting was a focused budget deliberation that produced several one-time and ongoing spending changes while leaving the final ordinance subject to the May 13 continuation. Assemblymembers said they would reconvene with staff numbers and return to finish the FY2026 appropriation and mill-rate decisions.