Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan is requesting $350 million from the state for the troubled Port of Anchorage. The port appropriation request is by far the largest chunk of the roughly $670 million the municipality is requesting in the upcoming state budget. The requests were presented to Anchorage legislators on Tuesday afternoon. Sullivan’s priorities, including the port, total about $389 million.
According to the narrative attached to the request for the port, “The Municipality now exercises complete control over the Project and determines how state and local funds are utilized. As of August 2014, the Municipality has shifted the goal of the project from what was an ‘expansion’ to a modernization initiative.”
“Modernization” is one way to put it. Anchorage has been trying to expand the troubled port for more than a decade. Because of a failed design, and flawed federal oversight, about $300 million has been spent on the project and it still hasn’t been expanded. The municipality did get new roads, utilities, and land for that money. And it got a lot of fingers pointing at each other. The mess is now in court.
See Full List of Anchorage Budget Requests at AmandaCoyne.com
image credit portofalaska.com
