0:32
Pat Bowling
65:53 - 66:26
"The whole borough discussion is the big unknown. Will the library become a department of the federal? If not, will the terminated borough-city library services agreement be renegotiated by the December 31st deadline? According to the old agreement, which remains in place until the end of December, the borough pays a percentage of the library's budget that is the same as the percentage of the borough population who lives outside the cities of Ketchikan and Sassafras."
“The whole borough discussion is the big unknown. Will the library become a department of the federal? If not, will the terminated borough-city library services agreement be renegotiated by the December 31st deadline? According to the old agreement, which remains in place until the end of December, the borough pays a percentage of the library's budget that is the same as the percentage of the borough population who lives outside the cities of Ketchikan and Sassafras.”
- Speaker
- Pat Bowling
- Timestamp
- 65:53 – 66:26
- Community
- Alaska News
- Location
- Ketchikan
- Captured at
- July 9, 2026
From the transcript
The whole borough discussion is the big unknown. Will the library become a department of the federal? If not, will the terminated borough-city library services agreement be renegotiated by the December 31st deadline? According to the old agreement, which remains in place until the end of December, the borough pays a percentage of the library's budget that is the same as the percentage of the borough population who lives outside the cities of Ketchikan and Sassafras. The short answer is we just don't know what changes are going to take place.
Related Coverage
Ketchikan library faces 40% budget cut if borough-city contract expires
The Ketchikan Gateway Borough voted to terminate its library services agreement with the city effective December 31, 2026, putting roughly 40% of the public library's budget at risk. A citizens' petition drive had 289 signatures as of Tuesday and needs at least 400 by July 20 to place a borough-wide library powers measure on the October ballot.
by Walter AlaskaNews2h ago2 min readAIKetchikan, Alaska
