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Borough amends budget to reduce contribution to school district
Posted by Maria Dudzak | May 5, 2021
The Ketchikan Gateway Borough looks set to reduce its contribution to the Ketchikan School District. This came as the borough assembly took its first steps toward approving a $55.6 million borough-wide budget and $48.1 million school district budget.
The Assembly voted Monday to decrease the borough’s contribution to the school district by $153,490 less than 2% of its nearly $11 million appropriation to Ketchikan’s public schools.
During discussion, several assembly members expressed support for reducing the local contribution, including Jeremy Bynum who initially suggested a $200,000 cut.
“I don’t think it’s an enormous amount, and I think that they can make adjustments to account for it.”
Borough Mayor Rodney Dial wrote the resolution, which was co-sponsored by Assembly Member Jeremy Bynum.
Dial said in a phone interview Friday that the resolution was motivated by actions that President Joe Biden announced on April 8 aimed at reducing gun violence.
More than a dozen members of the public submitted written comment ahead of Monday s meeting, most supportive of the resolution. Among those who wrote in support were former Ketchikan City Council Member Dick Coose, Ketchikan Mayor Bob Sivertsen and former Ketchikan School Board member and 2020 Alaska House District 36 candidate Leslie Becker.
Eight citizens spoke at the meeting in person, most of whom voiced their support for the resolution, including City Council Member Riley Gass. City Council Member Janalee Gage delivered a lengthy set of remarks to the Assembly, urging it not to take up the resolution.
The Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly on Monday will consider a resolution opposing unconstitutional infringement of the rights of borough citizens under the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution, and urging the Governor and Legislature of the State of Alaska to oppose broad restrictions on the rights of citizens to bear arms.
Borough Mayor Rodney Dial wrote the resolution, which was co-sponsored by Assembly Member Jeremy Bynum.
Borough Attorney Glenn Brown reviewed the resolution before it was put on the agenda, though Dial and Brown both emphasized that he was not involved in drafting the resolution.
Motivation
Dial said the resolution was prompted by a series of recent actions taken by President Joe Biden to address gun violence that may infringe upon the rights of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms, he wrote in the sponsor statement for the resolution.
Posted by Eric Stone | Dec 31, 2020
The coronavirus pandemic shaped a strange year in the far southeast reaches of the state. On St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, officials in Ketchikan reported the first positive coronavirus test in Southeast Alaska.
That was before masks, travel restrictions and lockdowns and the virus spread quickly at first. After the governor ordered some businesses to close and local officials encouraged folks to hunker down, the immediate threat passed.
But the threat of the pandemic was two-pronged not just a public health crisis, but an economic catastrophe for Ketchikan and much of Southeast Alaska after health officials banned cruising in U.S. waters.