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New Budget Plan Goes from Senate to HouseSen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, speaks Friday on Senate Bill 187, the capital budget. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)By JAMES BROOKS Alaska BeaconWhen it rains hard enough in the Prince of Wales Island town of Craig, staff at the city’s middle school roll out the trash cans.“The roof is failing,” said Superintendent Chris Reitan. “Every time we have a really hard rain, we have 50-gallon trash cans, and they’re catching water.”Help may be on the way for Craig’s schools and others across the state. On Friday, the Alaska Senate voted 15-3 to approve the first draft of the state’s $3.9 billion capital budget, which funds construction and renovation projects across the state.Some legislators have raised alarm about the size of the combined capital and operating budget bills, which — when combined with other legislation — exceed the state’s expected revenue. But because House and Senate negotiators previously agreed on the size of the capital budget, they’re expected to cut first from the operating budget in order to make ends meet.Within the capital budget is $36 million for major maintenance projectsat K-12 schools across Alaska, and Craig is the No. 1 priority on the list of projects.Altogether, the state House and Senate are pi aiming to spend $550 million in state dollars on capital projects.When federal funding is included, the capital budget nears $4 billion.Those figures include money in the fiscal year beginning July 1 and additions to the current fiscal year, and is significantly more than the averagespent on capital projects over the past 10 years.In Craig, Reitan said he was “super surprised” that the Senate was willing to fund the top 15 items on the K-12 major maintenance list.‘This is only the Senate, you know, so it’ll have to be worked out with the House and then the governor, but going down 15 projects is a substantial statement by the Senate in regards to the importance of funding for school districts,” he said.Craig is slated to receive almost $4 million, enough to repair the leaking roof and make the city’s schools more accessible to disabled staff, students and visitors.In other parts of Alaska, the budget would fulfill long-sought goals. There’s $15 million for a nursing facility in Anchorage, $26.4 million for the renovation of various University of Alaska buildings statewide, $14.5 million to build housing in rural Alaska for nurses, teachers and police — even $750,000 for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, which has been experiencing funding problems.Continued on Back Page
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Daily Sitka Sentinel
Sitka, Alaska, US
Mon, Apr 15, 2024
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USA 20 Dec 2024
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