Residents turn out to ‘Flip the Script’ at first-ever Mat-Su Sentinel election connection event

What you need to know:

• About 150 residents attended the Mat-Su Sentinel’s Flip the Script: Mat-Su Election Connection at the Palmer Depot on Thursday. Eight local candidates and Borough Manager Mike Brown joined the public for an evening of live polling and civic discussion focused on borough funding, taxes and local education.
• Candidates gave brief remarks, and residents shared feedback on whether and how the borough should gather taxes beyond levies on local property values, top local spending priorities and how to attract more students to district schools.
• The event emphasized listening and connection over debate, giving voters a voice in real time and allowing candidates to engage directly with residents. Organizers plan to make Flip the Script an annual event to strengthen civic engagement across the Mat-Su.

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PALMER — More than 150 Mat-Su residents from across the political spectrum filled the Palmer Depot on Thursday night for an experiment in civic engagement: Flip the Script: Mat-Su Election Connection, an evening of conversation, curiosity, and community hosted by Mat-Su Sentinel.

The first-ever innovative free event blended traditional candidate remarks with audience-driven live polling that gave residents a chance to share their views on borough spending, taxes and education priorities in real time.

Eight candidates for Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly or the Matanuska-Susitna School Board delivered two-minute opening and closing remarks and shared their perspectives on topics raised through the live polling — including their ideas for alternative sources of borough funding and how to make local schools more attractive to students and families. Borough Manager Mike Brown also shared information on the motor fuel tax advisory vote appearing on the region’s November ballots.

Rather than asking candidates to debate one another or respond one by one to a series of questions, Flip the Script invited them to introduce themselves and then to listen. The audience spent about 40 minutes responding to questions about how they think local tax dollars should be spent and what issues they value most, while candidates reacted to those results and connected with voters one-on-one.

“The idea was to shift the spotlight to the voters while leaving space for voters and candidates to get to know each other,” said Sentinel founder Amy Bushatz. “When people feel heard and can talk in person, our community gets stronger — and that’s what the Sentinel is all about.”

Topics at the event centered on local government funding because the issue is on the ballot, is relevant to both the Assembly and school board races, and it is one of the most discussed issues in Mat-Su right now, Bushatz said.

“We needed a single topic to tie the full evening together,” Bushatz said. “I spend hours each week at local government meetings, talking to Mat-Su residents and listening to public comment. Funding is what people are talking about most right now. Flip the Script was a chance to get a wide variety of folks together in a constructive, respectful, and fun way around something that impacts all of us but is often so divisive.”

The evening was live-streamed by volunteers from Big Cabbage Radio. Anchorage Daily News reporter and Palmer High School graduate Tim Rockey assisted with the live polling discussion. About 20 volunteers ensured the evening ran smoothly.

The evening’s live audience feedback sections kicked off with a simple question: “What do you love about Mat-Su?” Most of the respondents said “community,” with inputs like “outdoors,” “freedom,” and “people” also receiving many submissions.

On the topic of local taxes, the vast majority of participants said they are interested in finding ways beyond property taxes for the borough to source local funding. Asked to rank their funding priorities from among a selection of efforts and services currently paid for by the borough, the majority of participants put “roads” as their top choice, followed by “schools,” “emergency services and safety,” “parks and recreation,” and “public transportation.”

While a handful of participants said they don’t support any new type of tax to move the borough away from relying heavily on property taxes, the majority said they’d like to see a gravel tax — an idea voted down by the assembly in 2017 — with an alcohol sales tax and general sales tax coming in as the second and third choices.

On the subject of schools, participants said their top spending priority is “academic achievement” for students, with “small class size” and “teacher pay” coming in second and third.

When asked to rank changes the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District can leverage to make registering with the district more attractive to students and families, the vast majority said “add more career and technical education programs,” followed by “expand parent choice options,” “flexible scheduling,” “improve school facilities,” and “lower graduation requirements.”

Finally, participants ranked ways local officials can keep the conversation going and gather feedback on a more regular basis. The majority said they would like to see more community events like Flip the Script or open houses hosted by government officials, followed by “online surveys and digital tools,” “more comments at meetings,” and “more ballot questions.”

Participants said that they appreciated the chance to meet candidates face-to-face, enjoy food and drinks, and take part in a respectful, facts-driven conversation about the future of Mat-Su.

The Sentinel plans to make Flip the Script an annual event focused on strengthening civic connections across Mat-Su, Bushatz said.

Flip the Script was sponsored by Mat-Su Sentinel with support from the Mat-Su Health Foundation, 203 Kombucha, Bleeding Heart Brewery and Hamilton Farms.

Mat-Su Sentinel is a nonprofit news website dedicated to fact-based local news reporting and civic engagement.