The city has used Indian River as a backup source of drinking water before, but a new state regulation could make that difficult. Sitka is asking the state legislature to provide about $5 million to help it find another source. (KCAW photo/Ed Ronco)
The Alaska Legislature will gavel into session on January 17th. Raven News will be bringing you perspectives from state legislators next week, and on what issues they think will be important in the session ahead.
Before that, we take a look at Sitka’s priorities. Every year the City and Borough, along with other organizations that routinely get state funding, put together a wish list of sorts asking for state money.
Sitka’s list was drafted and adopted by the Assembly in the fall, and it outlines what projects city leaders consider the most important things to accomplish in the year ahead. What happens in Juneau in the next few months will determine which projects get done, and which continue to wait.
The booklet is only 32 pages long, but on those 32 pages are millions of dollars in hopes, worries, needs and wants. Sitka’s annual list of legislative priorities includes broad ideas – they’d like the state to continue to share revenues, to boost education funding, to fund their unfunded mandates, and to fix up the harbors.
But it also includes very specific projects.
“I would hope we’d get some help with our alternate potable water supply,” said Sitka Mayor Cheryl Westover.
She’s talking about Sitka’s need to find a temporary source of drinking water while the Blue Lake dam is under construction. When Blue Lake has been inspected before – every five to 10 years or so – the city has used water from Indian River, along with a nearby treatment plant, to provide water to Sitka.
But new state regulations would require Sitka to issue a boil water notice if it pulls water from Indian River, even if it treats the water. The city says that would have ramifications for people with compromised immune systems, as well as restaurants and medical facilities, and so they need to find a new source.
Doing so, and doing it before fall of 2014, will cost $5.1 million, most of which the city hopes the state will pay for.
Other requests for state funding include $1.5 million toward a $9 million federally required UV disinfection system for municipal drinking water. The EPA is requiring that to be in place before Oct. 1, 2014.
The city is also hoping the state sends more than $7 million for additional diesel power generation, $8 million to rebuild the bulkhead at the Marine Service Center on Katlian Street, another $6.5 million for a bulkhead dock at Sawmill Cove Industrial Park, and more than $4 million to cover half the cost of replacing ANB Harbor.
And then there’s the roof at Sitka Community Hospital.
“It certainly hasn’t improved, but it at least – keep our fingers crossed – hasn’t gotten any worse,” said Hugh Hallgren, the administrator of the city-owned hospital. The hospital asked voters in October to approve a tax increase to pay for a new roof. Voters said no. And now?
“We are hopeful that Sen. Stedman and the legislature, as part of their capital budgeting program, will be able to support a new roof for the hospital and thus for the community of Sitka,” he said.
A new roof will cost about $1.5 million, which Westover says might be do-able on the state level. If not, she says the city will have to figure out how to replace the roof.
“I don’t know that we can afford to have that roof go through another winter, especially if we have a winter where we have a lot of snow,” Westover said.
The hospital roof, drinking water, diesel generators, new docks, money for the harbors … the list also includes state money for a library expansion, a Centennial Hall expansion, improvements at Moller Field, paving city streets, improvements to Swan Lake, and more.
The requests go before legislators who write the state’s capital budget, and that budget gets vetted by both chambers of the legislature, before moving to Gov. Sean Parnell.
Parnell has line-item veto power, and can pull out individual projects if he doesn’t want to fund them. Westover says she knows the city won’t get everything it asks for, but she also says Sitka has fared pretty well having a state senator who is co-chair of his chamber’s finance committee. The city has even fared well when it comes to gubernatorial vetoes, at least in recent years.
“The governor was pretty darn good to us this last year, so I don’t know. I don’t know,” Westover said. “His veto pen wasn’t as heavy handed as I thought it was going to be this last year.”
Still, Westover will be among the city officials from across Alaska trying to convince legislators and the governor of their needs when they travel to Juneau in February for the Alaska Municipal League conference.
Until then, Westover says (and really after then, too), the city will wait to see what happens at the state capitol.
