Mat-Su manager tallies $386 million in outside grants, led by $249 million rail award

Matanuska-Susitna Borough Manager Mike Brown told the Assembly on Tuesday that outside grants for projects in the borough now total $386 million, most of it from the federal grant announced a day earlier to finish the Port MacKenzie rail extension.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the grant Monday. It goes to the Alaska Railroad, not the borough, and the Federal Railroad Administration puts it at up to about $249 million. The 32-mile line is partly built but still lacks rail and its final connections between Port MacKenzie and Houston. Brown said the project "stalled out years ago and has been in the makings for a couple of decades."

"Even if you want to take the $249 million out for the rail, we're still well over $100 million," he said.

A borough summary Brown showed the Assembly tallies the money since fiscal 2023. Besides the rail grant, it lists $83 million more for Port MacKenzie, including a $64.5 million federal port grant through the state Department of Transportation for multimodal freight, and the $7.9 million federal grant signed in September for a barge ramp.

The list also includes $14.5 million for freight access on Burma Road, $12.8 million in federal Safe Streets for All money for safety improvements, $4.75 million in state money for Talkeetna water and sewer, $8 million for a fire facility and EMS training at Station 3-9, and the $2.5 million Big Lake ice rink grant the Assembly accepted Tuesday.

Much of it isn't in hand. About $92 million, including the port freight and Burma Road grants, is still awaiting grant agreements, according to the summary. Projects worth about $16 million are listed as complete.

"We have $386 million coming into the borough, and most of it's not even done yet," Brown said. The money will arrive over the next few years, he said, and the total doesn't include the borough's own match. He said the list doesn't cover every grant the borough has won.

"This is going to allow us to do a lot that doesn't put the burden on property taxes, and that's significant," Brown said.