Author: kfskadmin

The only public testimony at last week’s hearing on a draft school budget focused on Petersburg Mental Health Service’s contracted counseling hours in the schools. The district may reduce a counseling contract for next year, which could impact staffing numbers at the agency. School administrators are still fine tuning next year’s spending plan and hoping federal stimulus money will shrink a planned $400,000 deficit.

A planned million dollar expansion of the Joy Jansen Clinic at the Petersburg Medical Center probably won’t be happening this year. Hospital officials say some of the grant money they were hoping for is not available. Meanwhile, the medical center has started some remodeling work to increase space for physical therapy.

Petersburg’s city council Tuesday agreed to make a few changes to requests for grant money from the state. City officials will be writing to the community’s state legislators and telling them it can get by this year with less money to construct a new library and to study hydro electric power potential in nearby Thomas Bay.

Petersburg Medical Center welcomes a new physician to its staff today. Dr. Craig Doser starts work this week as a full-time physician at the medical center, although he’s not a new face in the building. For the past 20 years Doser has worked at the Central Peninsula General Hospital inSoldotna and filled in from time to time at Petersburg’s hospital for the past 17 years.

The Petersburg School Board last week got its first look at a draft district budget for next year. The plan introduced Wednesday would spend $400,000 more than the district expects to take in from federal, state and local revenue sources next year. While that might not mean any big cuts to school programs for 2009-2010, staff warned that the board might have to make some tough budget decisions the year after.