K-Beach area residents will find out Tuesday night if they’ll vote on the creation of an economic service area for District 1 in November.
Assembly member Kelly Wolf introduced the service area ordinance for his K-Beach area district as a way for his constituents to have more input on the variety of issues affecting them.
Brian Olson opposes Soldotna’s proposed annexation of the K-Beach business district. He testified at last Thursday’s public hearing on the proposed service area.
Olson: “Everybody has their own niche or community and representatives that they have to speak for but with that said, residents that live in this particular area would have a voice more than what they have now and I think that’s what government’s all about is the voice of the people.”
Bob Wortham and his wife own more than 60 acres in District 1 and he says he doesn’t trust the service area to fix anything.
Wortham: “It’s just another way in the back door, you can’t trust these people. They want more tax base so they’ll do just about anything and they don’t always tell the truth.”
Last Monday, a group of K-Beach residents affected by 2013 flooding, known as the Highwater Drainage Task Force, formally voted to support the ordinance.
Wolf was at that meeting and said the service area would be a vehicle through which they could apply for loans from the borough to work on special projects to alleviate flooding impacts.
The proposed economic service area(pictured above) would create a 0.01 mill rate that would be managed by elected service area board members.
The borough is slated to discuss the ordinance at Tuesday night’s 6:00 pm meeting in the Borough Assembly Chambers.