The City of Kenai has experienced a jump in economic growth in recent years.
Finance Director Terry Eubank gave a presentation to the Kenai City Council Wednesday that broke down sales tax revenues compared to neighboring areas.
Eubank: “If you look at that same period in the quarter ending in March of 2014, we’ve been significantly above both the borough and Soldotna. That speaks very well for our local economy here in Kenai.”
In the graph he handed out to council members, one period showed Kenai experience a seven and a half percent growth while Soldotna and the Kenai Peninsula Borough only saw around a two percent growth.
Eubank: “In the last couple of calendar quarters, they’ve seen negative growth and we’re still north of three and a half to four percent.”
The highest level of growth Eubank highlighted is Kenai’s retail sales.
Eubank: “That’s all of our retail stores. In FY 15 we had about $162 million worth of taxable sales in that industry. And it’s been maintaining about a 3.8 percent growth for us.”
Another trend pinpointed in Eubank’s research saw that Kenai’s hospitality revenues appeared to be constant year-round as opposed to Soldotna’s which peaks in the summer.
City Manager Rick Koch surmised that may be due to oil field workers in Nikiski residing at Kenai hotels for long periods of time.