Author: kfskadmin

It was a half century ago that Petersburg’s Bernadine Trones and Alma Wallen organized the community's first Little Norway festival. Also called Mayfest, it’s the biggest event of the year in Petersburg and the town kicks off the festivals 50th Anniversary on Thursday. This year’s celebration of local culture was a long-time in the making. There will be a photo scavenger hunt and art displays, dances and drumming and dignitaries, halibut fletching and herring tossing, the parade….the Smorrgasbord…the Kaffehus…… and of course the Vikings and Valkyries. To find out more about the schedule for the first day of the festival, Matt Lichtenstein spoke with Janet Holten and Sally Dwyer who co-chair this year’s festival committee, which began meeting last October.

Consumers could see a drop in their electric bills under the reorganization plan for the four-dam-pool power agency. That’s according to local officials working on the split-up, which would allow the pools two southcentral members to go their separate ways. The southeast members would then take complete ownership of the two hydro-plants that power their towns. City councilors heard more about the plan in Petersburg Monday night.

State troopers say an accidental gunshot claimed the life of a Petersburg teenager over the weekend. Family, friends and the community are mourning the loss of 16-year-old Jacob T. Madsen.

Petersburg city councilors will begin their budget deliberations tonight. The 36 million dollar plan covers all city revenues and spending…including the city’s enterprise funds or utilities that are supposed to support themselves….as well as the tax-supported general fund. The general fund covers city functions that can’t pay for themselves like emergency services and police, planning and community development, public works and the library as well as local contributions to schools and other community services. Education funding is up significantly from last year and there are several smaller increases for a few community services including Petersburg Mental Health, the Clausen Museum, and KFSK public radio. Overall, the draft general fund budget for next year spends more money than it takes in because it uses cash reserves to cover some of the city’s capital project costs. The proposed budget calls for the same amount of property-tax revenue as the current year and since assessments are on the rise, the millage rate is likely to be lowered. Matt Lichtenstein spoke with City Manager Richard Underkofler about the proposed budget Friday:

The Forest Service has a long list of major recreation projects underway this summer on the Petersburg Ranger District…the agency also is also doing initial fieldwork for one new timber sale project ….and its finishing its draft plan for another….both on Kupreanoff island. Matt Lichtenstein stopped by the districts open house earlier this month to take a look