The Homer City Council postponed a decision to spend $2 million to reconstruct roads in old town Homer at a meeting last week as they consider what the city’s budget will look like next year.
The proposed project would improve Ohlson Land and Bunnell Avenue, two aging roads near the city’s main beach access. It would also replace a nearly 59-year-old water main and build a new storm sewer, according to a memorandum from the city’s public works director.
But a financial report shows that as of September, the city doesn’t have enough money for the project.
Homer resident and former city council member Heath Smith said he wants to see the council work on their budget priorities before deciding to spend $2 million on the project.
“There's not just the things that you're spending money on today and planning on, but there's also the things that are unplanned, and you have to have some money there in order to respond to those types of things,” he said.
Pat Case, another Homer resident, said he’d rather see the city spend money to rehabilitate Heath Street, a major connector in the city.
“I really haven't heard a ton of community input into the overall need of this job that you're going to put $2 million in to be prioritized over the Heath Street job, which will give benefit to the entire community,” Case said.
The money would come out of the Homer Accelerated Roads and Trails, or HART, fund. It’s made up of sales tax money set aside to build and maintain city roads. While the fund is projected to have more than $5 million for this fiscal year, a majority of that is already earmarked for other projects. The city’s financial report shows less than $2 million is available as of the end of September.
Council member Donna Aderhold said they prioritized this project because Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation would pay for $815,400 of the roughly $2.8 million cost. She said the money is a loan that will turn into a grant once the project’s completed.
“If we don't do this project, then everything that has been done under the grant will no longer be a grant, and we will have to pay for it out of our budget,” Aderhold said.
Homer Public Works Director Dan Kort said they would need to fully redesign the project to cut costs, and they’re limited in things they can cut to save money.
“ Because the water and the storm sewer will affect the entire road length, [the] only part of it that could be removed would be the sidewalks, the parking lane, things like that,” Kort said.
The council will discuss the project again at their Jan. 27 meeting. They also scheduled a work session on Jan. 13 to discuss the HART fund as a whole.