Tim Bradner

1 week ago | frontiersman.com | Tim Bradner

The Matanuska Borough Assembly approved seven new road service contracts in addition to a number of other administrative actions at its regular Tuesday, May 7 meeting. A public hearing was also set for May 20 on the borough’s proposed purchase, for $400,000, of the Big Lake Lions Club Recreation Center and an adjacent parking lot. This is subject to an appropriation for the purchase in the borough’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget, which must still be approved by the assembly and Mayor Edna DeVries.

1 week ago | frontiersman.com | Tim Bradner

The state Legislature is in its final days before a required adjournment at midnight, May 21. Lawmakers in Juneau are racing to finish work on actions they’re required to do by law, including voting to confirm Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s nominations for state boards and commissions. The state budget must also be agreed on, both for operations and capital, which is mostly construction.

2 weeks ago | frontiersman.com | Tim Bradner

There was a sparse turnout at last Tuesday’s April 29 regular Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly meeting. It was the third and final public hearing on the borough’s planned Fiscal Year 2026 budget, which becomes effective July 1. Previous budget public hearings have also been low-key. Almost no one actually spoke to the budget last Tuesday except for a plea to keep the borough’s public libraries funded and left alone against the headwind of local activists campaigning for book bans.

2 weeks ago | frontiersman.com | Tim Bradner

The Senate continues its work on the operating budget in an effort to get a balanced budget without needing to borrow from reserves in the Constitutional Budget Reserve, or CBR. Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mike Shower, R-Wasilla, credited the Senate Finance Committee for its efforts to trim a budget received from the state House. kAmqFE E96C6 :D DE:== 2 567:4:E[ 2?5 E96 >2E9 :D E@F89[ $9@H6C D2:5] w:D 4@>>6?ED 42>6 :? 2 3C:67:?8 3J E96 $6?2E6 |:?@C:EJ =2DE H66<]k^AmkAm“%96 w@FD6 D6?E @G6C 2?

3 weeks ago | frontiersman.com | Tim Bradner

Mat-Su legislators are praising a new education bill being promoted by Gov. Mike Dunleavy as an alternative to House Bill 69, a bill the governor vetoed after it was passed by Democrat-led coalitions controlling the state House and Senate. HB 69 had a $1,000 increase to the $5,960 per-student Base Student Allocation, or BSA, the formula that guides state funding for schools.