Kenai Peninsula Borough

The Kenai Peninsula Borough already uses paper ballots. But it uses electronic tabulators to tally results. The borough added electronic voting machines to its fleet a few years ago for voters with special needs.

Analysis from the borough’s finance department says the change could generate up to half a million more dollars in sales tax revenue each year.

If the ballot measure passes, residents in the new service area would pay more in property taxes each year to fund recreation services, with an emphasis on the pool at the K-12 school.

The borough thinks its stranded 2,000 acres could be turned into a residential development. Housing availability on the eastern peninsula is notoriously limited.

The program is an effort to make it easier for peninsula residents to buy land. Under the guidelines, the borough will knock off a quarter of the successful bid amount.

The borough mayor says it's rare for the school district to get maximum funding – it’s only happened once in the last two decades. And he says it’s unsustainable.

The petitioners say board members should have done more to push back on a health clinic that was proposed for the high school in Nikiski.

Now that borough code matches state law, the assembly will still need to pass an ordinance if it wants to spend public money promoting a ballot proposition. But, they won’t need to go around their own rules first.

The program will give discounts and special financing terms to eligible participants who bid on qualifying pieces of borough land.

On today’s episode of the Kenai Conversation, we’re joined by Brenda Ahlberg, the Kenai Peninsula Borough’s emergency manager, to talk about emergency preparedness amid an eruption advisory from Mt. Spurr.