The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly passed an ordinance that would allocate and redirect U.S. Department of Treasury, coronavirus state and local fiscal recovery funds established by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and appropriating general fund balance to specific pay-go capital projects. In July 2021, an ordinance was approved that appropriated $11,403,341.
The ordinance allocates Grant Funds of $2,203,341 to fund the Homer High School Roof Replacement Pay-Go Critical Infrastructure Project. It also appropriates $1,800,000 to complete Phase 2 and Phase 3 of the Homer High School Roof Replacement Project. In addition, it would allocate grant funds of $700,000 to construct a new exterior side on a portion of West Homer Elementary to stop water intrusion. Lastly, it redirects grant funds of $500,000 to fund critical bridge infrastructure by rebuilding and upgrading bridges within the Kenai Peninsula Borough.
Some assembly members expressed concern of the money redirected for the bridges as well as the bridges that are on the list. Aaron Rhoades, Kenai Peninsula Borough Chief of Staff to Mayor Charlie Pierce said:
“It is a list of the bridges in the Borough. Some are owned by the state. Some are owned by the Borough, etc. I left that title on there because that was the titles that were sent to me, but I knew that that might create some questions. It is not a prioritized list, it is a list of all of the bridges that will be evaluated based on need, those needs will be met accordingly after state bridge inspectors have inspected all of the bridges on that list and then they’ll be prioritized accordingly. That is the list of the prioritized bridges that need replacement and then they will be inspected. … This amount of funds does not cover all the needs of the all the bridges just cause, you can see the list before you, I think I counted at least five that are from 1972. That’s a 50-year-old bridge. $500,000 doesn’t begin to kind of touch the needs of all the bridges, but we would certainly know which bridge we should attack first based on inspections of all that are on that list.”
The U.S. Treasury will release the funds in two deposits with no match requirement. The Borough received the first deposit of $5,701,670.50 on May 25, 2021. The second deposit will be released May 2022.