Capital budget cuts spare Southeast projects

The FY 2016 capital budget includes $3 million for treatment of water from Juneau's Salmon Creek Reservoir. It will allow the reservoir to be a drinking-water source year-round. Turbidity shuts it down part of the year.
The Senate Finance Committee’s fiscal year 2016 capital budget includes $3 million for treatment of water from Juneau’s Salmon Creek Reservoir. It will allow the reservoir to be a drinking-water source year-round. Turbidity shuts it down part of the year. (Photo by Casey Kelly/KTOO)

The state Senate’s capital budget for fiscal year 2016 includes new harbor and energy projects for Southeast Alaska.

The budget, released Wednesday, adds more than $8 million in regional projects that were not in the governor’s public works budget. The Senate also made no cuts to Southeast’s about $130 million in funding proposed by Gov. Bill Walker.

Some of the new money is for Sitka’s Crescent and Ketchikan’s Hole in the Wall harbors.

The new energy projects include a wood pellet heating system for low-income housing in Angoon and a heat pump for a community center in Metlakatla. Also funded are wood boilers for several Prince of Wales Island schools.

A July, 2014, sunset colrs the water of Sitka's Crescent Harbor. The Senate added $2.5 million for harbor work to its capital budget, released Tuesday.
A July 2014 sunset colors the water of Sitka’s Crescent Harbor. The Senate added $2.5 million for harbor work to its 2016 capital budget. (Photo by Shaleece Haas/KCAW)

Nearly half the total goes to Alaska Marine Highway System projects, including new engines for the ferry Matanuska. Terminal improvements in Gustavus, Juneau, Tenakee Springs and Ketchikan are also on the list.

Most of the other projects involve road and highway improvements or repairs.

The budget was prepared by the Senate Finance Committee. It still needs approval from the full Senate and House before being sent to the governor.

The majority of the money comes from the federal government.

Southeast’s two senators, Sitka Republican Bert Stedman and Juneau Democrat Dennis Egan, did not immediately return calls for comment on the capital budget.

Statewide, the Senate committee cut a number of projects from the budget.

The projects are:

Juneau:

  • Salmon Creek Water Treatment improvements, phase II, $3,090,000
  • Auke Bay Ferry Terminal stern berth modification, $1,700,000
  • Egan Drive and Riverside Drive intersection improvements, $1,000,000
  • Glacier Highway rehabilitation and reconstruction, $4,000,000
  • Industrial Boulevard widening and sidewalks, $3,000,000

Yakutat:

  • Airport runway, taxiway and apron rehabilitation, $10,000,000

Gustavus:

  • Ferry terminal modifications, $3,500,000
  • Repair or replace Rink Creek Bridge, $400,000

Prince of Wales Island:

  • Edna Bay organizational grant, $75,000
  • Southeast Island School District wood boilers, $832,635
  • Hydaburg Schools wood-fired boiler project, $620,977
  • Inter-Island Ferry Authority vessel refurbishment, $250,000

Sitka:

  • Crescent Harbor, $2,500,000

Ketchikan:

  • Hole-in-the-Wall Harbor, $655,000
  • Ferry terminal improvements, $1,000,000
  • Front, Mill and Stedman streets reconstruction, $8,000,000
  • Replacement of Water Street Trestle, $7,000,000
  • Tongass Highway rehabilitation and reconstruction, $33,000,000

Villages:

  • Angoon low-income housing pellet district heat, $240,592
  • Hoonah biomass district heating loop, $45,000
  • Tenakee Ferry Terminal improvements, $4,000,000
  • Metlakatla’s Lepquinum Center ground source heat pump, $3,445,040

Other Alaska Marine Highway System:

  • Construct, lease or purchase ferryboats and terminals, $1,000,000
  • Vessel refurbishment, $10,000,000
  • Fleet condition survey update,$150,000
  • Ferry Matanuska repower and systems upgrade, $34,000,000
  • System-wide anode replacement, $1,000,000
  • Wastewater treatment system upgrades, $2,000,000

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