A July 2014 sunset colors the water of Sitka’s Crescent Harbor. The Senate Finance Committee added $2.5 million for harbor work to its fiscal year 2016 capital budget on Tuesday. (Shaleece Haas/KCAW)
The state Senate’s capital budget for fiscal year 2016 includes new harbor and energy projects for Southeast Alaska. But there are no funds for Petersburg or Wrangell projects.
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.
The draft capital budget includes $3 million for additional treatment of water from Juneau’s Salmon Creek Reservoir, held back by this dam. (Casey Kelly/KTOO)
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:
Sitka:
Crescent Harbor, $2,500,000
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
Ketchikan:
Hole-in-the-Wall Harbor, $655,000
Ferry Terminal Improvements, $1,000,000
Front, Mill and Stedman Street 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
