Kodiak Island Borough

Kavitha George presents the Midday Report featuring national headlines from NPR, and state and local stories on: COVID-19 case on the M/V Tustumena Kodiak’s Black Lives Matter march Borough property taxes UA program cuts Public school and homeschool plans for the fall plus, Alaska Fish Radio, updates from Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game, and the weather forecast and community …

Following the approval of next year’s budget at last week’s Borough Assembly meeting, the assembly met again on Monday to approve the property tax rate and take up a motion to reconsider the $1 million cut to school district funding. Up first was approving the mill rate, which the assembly must determine by June 15 of each year, and which …

“Vote here” sign placed outside the Kodiak Island Borough and City of Kodiak building. (Photo by Kavitha George/KMXT) As local municipalities around the state are opting for mail-in ballot elections, for local elections in Kodiak this fall, however, the Kodiak Island Borough does not recommend an entire mail-in ballot election.  Borough Deputy Clerk Alise Rice presented to the assembly why …

On this week’s Talk of the Rock, Jared Griffin talks with Kodiak’s legislature delegation–Sen. Gary Stevens and Rep. Louise Stutes–about federal aid and what it means for Kodiak.

Kodiak High School. (Photo by Kavitha George) At their May 21 regular meeting, the Kodiak Borough Assembly held a public hearing and vote on education funding, and introduced an ordinance to increase borough-wide property taxes to meet their bond debt obligations. After forty-five minutes of public testimony and an additional hour of board comments, the Kodiak Island Borough Assembly, meeting …

GCI’s proposed project would bring undersea fiber optic cable from Kodiak to Unalaska, spanning approximately 860 miles.CREDIT COURTESY OF GCI by Hope McKenney–KUCB, GCI says it won’t move forward with bringing broadband communications to Unalaska at this time unless they receive a large grant from the USDA. The company has put in an application for a $25 million grant from …

At this week’s Borough Assembly Regular meeting, the Assembly will take up several significant agenda items related to the next year’s budget. First, the Assembly will tackle the Kodiak Island Borough school district’s request for nearly $10.5 million, which represents flat-funding from the current fiscal year. After discussions at last week’s work session, the Assembly settled on just over $9.7 …

The Alaska Legislature convened this week to take up federal CARES Act funding in response to a lawsuit challenging the legality of how the funds were authorized. Part of this billion-dollar package includes money for the Community Assistance Program, which aids local municipal governments. Tuesday morning, Kodiak came one step closer to receiving additional financial assistance to help recover from …

Talk of the Rock host, Jared Griffin, talks with members of the Kodiak Island Borough Consolidation Committee–Terry Haines, Justin Thran, and Jennifer Culbertson–about how the committee is progressing and some of the issue they are facing. Tune in for a lively discussion on how economics, representation, and different approaches to government services affect how the committee oversees the consolidation proposal …

New, bear-proof roll carts are replacing an older generation of trash bins in some neighborhoods in Kodiak this week. Alaska Waste is supplying the new carts free of charge, as a part of their renewed waste hauling contract, which begins July 1. The bear-resistant bins have a special latch in the lid to prevent easy opening, whereas the older bin …