In Homer’s special election, Tuesday, Proposition I passed – that’s according to unofficial results released by the city Tuesday night.
Proposition I will suspend .75 percent of city sales tax to the Homer Accelerated Roads and Trails program, for three years.
The Fund was created to pay for city road and trail improvements. It holds 7 million dollars. City leaders needed a vote of the public in order to move the money. The proposition redirects nearly a million dollars from the roads and trails fund into the general budget – about the amount officials say they’re short this budget cycle. City officials say they hope to come up with a new funding strategy over the next three years
The city launched a campaign aimed at getting voters to say yes to the proposition. The city of Homer, along with many other small governments, faces a budget shortfall this year due to declining oil revenue for the State of Alaska.
The city says a total of 588 voters cast ballots in the special election. That’s a 13 percent turnout. There are 4,531 registered voters in Homer.
Daysha Eaton is a contributor with the Alaska Public Radio Network.
Daysha Eaton holds a B.A. from Evergreen State College, and a M.A. from the University of Southern California. Daysha got her start in radio at Seattle public radio stations, KPLU and KUOW. Before coming to KBBI, she was the News Director at KYUK in Bethel. She has also worked as the Southcentral Reporter for KSKA in Anchorage.
Daysha's work has appeared on NPR's "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered", PRI's "The World" and "National Native News". She's happy to take assignments, and to get news tips, which are best sent via email.
Daysha became a journalist because she believes in the power of storytelling. Stories connect us and they help us make sense of our world. They shed light on injustice and they comfort us in troubled times. She got into public broadcasting because it seems to fulfill the intention of the 4th Estate and to most effectively apply the freedom of the press granted to us through the Constitution. She feels that public radio has a special way of moving people emotionally through sound, taking them to remote places, introducing them to people they would not otherwise meet and compelling them to think about issues they might ordinarily overlook.
