Video Clips
Quoted moments from Alaska public meetings, hearings, and press conferences.
Speaker A
“We have case number 26-019. Native Village of Karluk requests a conditional use permit on Township 30 South, Range 32 West, TL-2001, Track C, Karluk.”Kodiak Borough: Planning and Zoning Regular Meeting of June 17, 2026 · Jun 17, 2026
Zac Johnson
“By failing to collect the full MAPTOR amount tonight, we would be voluntarily eliminating nearly $500,000 in revenue generating capability capacity in next year.”Prefix - Kodiak Island Borough Livestream · Jun 4, 2026
Scott Smiley
“I'm most worried about next year. And if we don't get the full amount for baptor, then we are. At least there's the threat of problems next year.”Prefix - Kodiak Island Borough Livestream · Jun 4, 2026
Bo Whiteside
“Kea raised their electric rates by 12.5%. The City of Kodiak recently is entertaining and I'm not quite clear if they've adopted it yet, but they are looking to increase the water and sewer rate by 5%. We've all been to the gas pumps lately. We've all been to the grocery store. Everything is getting more expensive.”Prefix - Kodiak Island Borough Livestream · Jun 4, 2026
Bo Whiteside
“I support option D. My logic behind supporting this option is this budget is balanced. It provides continuity for all borough services, represents an $800,000 increase in school funding, and it also increases our MAPTOR capacity by approximately a half a million dollars for next fiscal year.”Prefix - Kodiak Island Borough Livestream · Jun 4, 2026
Jeremiah Gardner
“I ran on wanting to lower taxes. I believe I'll say it over and over again. We got to tighten our belts. I want to see taxes go down. My family's back is breaking.”Prefix - Kodiak Island Borough Livestream · Jun 4, 2026
Bo Whiteside
“I still feel the amount budgeted for the school district was appropriate, especially in light of recent events where the school district stated on record during the most recent Board of education meeting that $900,000 in budget deficiencies were discovered.”Prefix - Kodiak Island Borough Livestream · Jun 4, 2026
Zac Johnson
“It doesn't take any money whatsoever from any account. Everything we funded last week remains in place. All this does is is collect the amount of revenue authorized by the borough to collect.”Prefix - Kodiak Island Borough Livestream · Jun 4, 2026
Scott Smiley
“I do think that the idea of cutting taxes has been around since Ronald Reagan. That's 40 goddamn years, pardon my French, that we've been cutting taxes. There's not a whole lot left at the school district.”Prefix - Kodiak Island Borough Livestream · Jun 4, 2026
Jeremiah Gardner
“I would like to see our taxes go lower and lower. I'm going to be in favor of our lowest option on the table here”Prefix - Kodiak Island Borough Livestream · Jun 4, 2026
Jeremiah Gardner
“There was a school board meeting and there is a recording that approximately $900,000 was cut from their budget and they were able to find, quote, unquote, inefficiencies. No positions were cut from the school district”Prefix - Kodiak Island Borough Livestream · Jun 4, 2026
Jeremiah Gardner
“Move to amend to adopt option D.”Prefix - Kodiak Island Borough Livestream · Jun 4, 2026
Zac Johnson
“move to amend the resolution. Sorry, right here. To include a total mill rate of 9.15 and move the remaining $475,981 to fund 201.”Prefix - Kodiak Island Borough Livestream · Jun 4, 2026
Tina Woods
“I can't support this. I seconded the motion specifically to bring it to the floor. I want the discussion. I like hearing different points. I think this is leaving just a little too much on the table.”Prefix - Kodiak Island Borough Livestream · Jun 4, 2026
Bo Whiteside
“it has a great central location, good access to local businesses directly here in town. It's flat. There's access to utilities, and as I understand it from Director French, there are no limitations that he is aware of as far as connecting to water, sewer, electricity for this parcel.”Kodiak Borough: Borough Lands Committee Regular Meeting of June 1, 2026 · Jun 1, 2026
Bo Whiteside
“we're going to have to consider is do we prioritize housing needs or current use? And so we're not going to find a single parcel. I would be shocked if we did that didn't have some sort of community benefit or use associated with it.”Kodiak Borough: Borough Lands Committee Regular Meeting of June 1, 2026 · Jun 1, 2026
Grahn
“this parcel was purchased for a hospital site Many, many, many, many years ago. And this site has been utilized for recreation needs going back to the 2000s. So just from a point clarity, it's been used for about the last 25 years plus for recreational needs.”Kodiak Borough: Borough Lands Committee Regular Meeting of June 1, 2026 · Jun 1, 2026
Grahn
“I believe there is also wetlands as well. So I think identifying how much of the parcel is wetlands versus because I think it is 16 acres, but I think there's several acres that were wetlands.”Kodiak Borough: Borough Lands Committee Regular Meeting of June 1, 2026 · Jun 1, 2026
Bo Whiteside
“I would imagine no less than 30 lots, including accounting for roadways, you know, utility needs or offsets. And then if maintaining some green space, you could even do that if you're creative with the development.”Kodiak Borough: Borough Lands Committee Regular Meeting of June 1, 2026 · Jun 1, 2026
Grahn
“It's my recollection that there was going to be some utility challenges with this site through the public works. So I would ask that staff verify that, give us that information.”Kodiak Borough: Borough Lands Committee Regular Meeting of June 1, 2026 · Jun 1, 2026
Bo Whiteside
“I understand it is being used for baseball practice, But I remember Dr. LeDoux stating that this was a temporary offer made some 15 years ago and was never rescinded.”Kodiak Borough: Borough Lands Committee Regular Meeting of June 1, 2026 · Jun 1, 2026
Bo Whiteside
“I would imagine no less than 30 lots, including accounting for roadways, you know, utility needs or offsets. And then if maintaining some green space, you could even do that if you're creative with the development.”Kodiak Borough: Kodiak Island Borough Livestream · May 28, 2026
Bo Whiteside
“we're going to have to consider is do we prioritize housing needs or current use? And so we're not going to find a single parcel. I would be shocked if we did that didn't have some sort of community benefit or use associated with it. It's just not going to exist.”Kodiak Borough: Kodiak Island Borough Livestream · May 28, 2026
Jon Townsend
“It sounds like we're interested, but we just didn't. We obviously want a lot more information, specifically the history, wetlands, bedrock, how it might affect some current relationships or agreements that we have there.”Kodiak Borough: Kodiak Island Borough Livestream · May 28, 2026
Grohn
“Just as a reminder too, the borough is under a joint use agreement with the city and if they are to deem, I think this is a step that has been missed in the past. If they deem this property surplusable, I think they owe it, per the agreement to notify the city who is the manager of said parcel, who operates the programs.”Kodiak Borough: Kodiak Island Borough Livestream · May 28, 2026
Grohn
“It is also my understanding that this parcel was purchased for a hospital site Many, many, many, many years ago. And this site has been utilized for recreation needs going back to the 2000s. So just from a point of clarity, it's been used for about the last 25 years plus us for recreational needs.”Kodiak Borough: Kodiak Island Borough Livestream · May 28, 2026
Bo Whiteside
“I understand it is being used for baseball practice, But I remember Dr. LeDoux stating that this was a temporary offer made some 15 years ago and was never rescinded. So. So acknowledging that folks do use that. I'm prioritizing the needs of the community over a practice field when there's numerous ball fields teams can practice on.”Kodiak Borough: Kodiak Island Borough Livestream · May 28, 2026
Bo Whiteside
“I view this committee as kind of refreshing our perspective on available parcels. Do they fit the current need for housing development now, or could they? I should say, because we don't have all the information, but if we get the information back and these parcels, any of these parcels we're discussing are relatively straightforward to develop, we can Access and connect to utilities. Does that meet the goal of the committee of identifying parcels that are suitable for increasing, increasing land for workforce housing?”Kodiak Borough: Kodiak Island Borough Livestream · May 28, 2026
Grohn
“It's my recollection that there was going to be some utility challenges with this site through the public works. So I would ask that staff verify that, give us that information. I also understand that this site is a lot of. It is bedrock, so developmental costs will be increased.”Kodiak Borough: Kodiak Island Borough Livestream · May 28, 2026
Amy Williams
“by adding those now, that's in the MAPTR limit, and it helps us fully fund MAPTR and takes it out of the need to do a budget amendment.”Assembly Special Meeting of May 28, 2026 · May 29, 2026
Scott Smiley
“We need that cash to lower the mill rate a little bit and to make sure we're doing MAPTR the right way.”Assembly Special Meeting of May 28, 2026 · May 29, 2026
Amy Williams
“For a mill rate, our current mill rate in the borough is 8.91. As the budget stands right now, without using any facilities fund interest, we are about at a 9.36.”Assembly Special Meeting of May 28, 2026 · May 29, 2026
Amy Williams
“When we put money into facility or into R&R, it causes us to collect, it doesn't affect the mill rate in a positive way. It makes it go up.”Assembly Special Meeting of May 28, 2026 · May 29, 2026
Amy Williams
“The numbers that are in front of you once again do include adding the, um, staff, um, cost of living raise that would take place on July 1st.”Assembly Special Meeting of May 28, 2026 · May 29, 2026
Bo Whiteside
“if we were to keep the mill rate static, that doesn't mean people's Property taxes do not go up. Assessments go up. That means you are paying more.”Assembly Special Meeting of May 28, 2026 · May 29, 2026
Amy Williams
“there are every variety of, um, alternate scenario that you can imagine by putting in any number that you can think of into facilities maintenance that will change the mill rate.”Assembly Special Meeting of May 28, 2026 · May 29, 2026
Scott Smiley
“I think the more important issue here is the amount that we're directed towards MAPTR for next year. We really hamstring ourselves at $16.665, whereas at $17.290, we're doing a lot better for next year.”Assembly Special Meeting of May 28, 2026 · May 29, 2026
Amy Williams
“your total that was Approved last week was $13,779,556”Assembly Special Meeting of May 28, 2026 · May 29, 2026
Amy Williams
“That does not put money into R&R, but in order to do the projects that we have scheduled, we have enough money in that fund to cover that.”Assembly Special Meeting of May 28, 2026 · May 29, 2026
Jared Griffin
“COVID money helped bridge those gaps for a few years, and as have federal grants for numerous years. COVID money is gone. Um, we voted in an executive branch in, in D.C. that eliminated those education— federal education grants that provided for a lot of the services our kids rely on.”Kodiak Island Borough Assembly Regular Meeting of May 21, 2026 · May 21, 2026
Bo Whiteside
“move to amend Resolution Number FY 2027-01 for the amount to be made available to the Kodiak Island Borough School District from local sources for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2027, is set at $13,779,556 for both in-kind services and direct appropriation.”Kodiak Island Borough Assembly Regular Meeting of May 21, 2026 · May 21, 2026
Scott Smiley
“There seems to be a conception that we have some kind of authority over the budget of the school district. We don't. They have the authority over the school district's budget. That's their business to do. They have cut more than $2.7 million this year and $2.5 to $2.7 million for the year before that and the year before that.”Kodiak Island Borough Assembly Regular Meeting of May 21, 2026 · May 21, 2026
Zac Johnson
“I had a conversation with my kids and I told them, you know, the sad reality is the education you're getting this year is probably the best you'll get while you're while you're in school. It's only going to get worse. For me, the kind of final straw, or whatever you want to call it, was going down to Juneau last, last winter and here being told that until the state's congressional budget reserve is fully depleted, there's no appetite to really do anything to fix things.”Kodiak Island Borough Assembly Regular Meeting of May 21, 2026 · May 21, 2026
Mike Litzow
“If state funding had kept pace with inflation at our current enrollment, we would get $7.4 million more from the state in this fiscal year. And critically, the local contribution scales with state aid. If the state aid had kept up with inflation, um, the cap for the local contribution would be $1.7 million higher.”Assembly Work Session of May 14, 2026 · May 14, 2026
Amy Williams
“right now, as the budget stands, um, I would have us at around a 9.4 mil rate to fund everything that's in there currently. So, and we're currently at 8.91, just as a reference point.”Assembly Work Session of May 14, 2026 · May 14, 2026
Amy Williams
“Last night I sent the assembly an email just to go over some of the budget assumptions that were made when we were developing the original Level 1 budget. We had the assumption that the school district would ask for the maximum amount of local contribution, and they did. The budget was built around that.”Assembly Work Session of May 14, 2026 · May 14, 2026
Speaker A
“the pressure that we're feeling, right, it's state-created, it's federal policy-created with this cost of living, cost of expenses. Uh, uh, rev, uh, explosion that we've experienced this year. So, um, and I personally, I think that this is the kind of year where we look at interest income and how that we can make that, how we can make that work for taxpayers”Assembly Work Session of May 14, 2026 · May 14, 2026
Speaker A
“Fully funding the school request, um Some of you are interested in reducing pressure on the mill rate. We need to protect borough operations and staff and, of course, avoid maintenance deferrals.”Assembly Work Session of May 14, 2026 · May 14, 2026