Kenai Peninsula Borough
Community and Economic Development Division
Quarterly Report of Key Economic Indicators for Period March 31, 2004

Introduction

Kenai Peninsula Borough (KPB) staff develops quarterly reports containing economic data from throughout the area for use by businesses, agencies, and other entities to make planning and management decisions.

The publication is divided into eight sections: Kenai Peninsula Borough, Homer, Kenai, Seldovia, Seward, Soldotna, KPB Unincorporated, and a Local Officials Directory.

To provide unity within the document, certain conventions are applied:

· In the real estate section, the following abbreviations apply:

      §        RN - Residential New
§        RA - Residential Alteration/Addition
§        CN - Commercial New
§        CA - Commercial Alteration/Addition

· In Sales and Employment sections, the following industry abbreviations apply:

      §        AFF –     Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Includes Fish Buyers)
§        Min –     Mining (Includes Oil & Gas Extraction and Production)
§        Const –     Construction
§         Manu –     Manufacturing (Includes Oil & Gas Manufacturing and Fish Processing)
§        TCPU –     Travel, Communications, and Public Utilities
§        Whole –     Wholesale Trade
§        Retail –     Retail Trade
§        FIRE –     Finance, Insurance and Real Estate
§        Service –    Services
§        Govt –     Public Administration, Education and Service

· Information sources for each section are listed in the index.

· General information applicable to all sections is provided in the Kenai Peninsula Borough section.

· Percentages of parts may not total 100%, due to rounding.

Information presented will assist in decision-making by providing economic and demographic information in graphic, table and text form. Local and state government officials; local, state and federal agencies; businesses within the borough and elsewhere; and private citizens use data contained in the publication.

Data is received from various sources and is subject to change as updates, revisions and corrections are received. The KPB makes no claims to accuracy or completeness of information provided. Only summary information is published. For further detail, contact Jeanne Camp, Economic Analyst, KPB Community and Economic Development Division, 907-714-2336, or the data source listed in the index.

Quarterly reports are available electronically on the KPB website located at http://www.borough.kenai.ak.us.

To correct your mailing address or to be added to or deleted from the mailing list for this report, please email [email protected] or call 907-714-2336. Be certain to identify yourself and the complete mailing address to be added or deleted.

Thank you

The Kenai Peninsula Borough wishes to thank all entities listed below for data provided for this publication.

Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development (AK DOL)
City of Homer
City of Kenai
City of Seldovia
City of Seward
City of Soldotna
Kenai Peninsula Borough Finance Department, Sales Tax Division

The writer wishes to thank those persons who gave of their time to review this document to find errors and make suggestions that result in a more professional and accurate document. Those individuals include Jack Brown, Business Manager of the KPB Community and Economic Development Division; Betty Glick, KPB Assembly member; and Sylvia Vinson, KPB Planning Department.

Functions of the CEDD and the EDD

Frequent questions regarding differences between KPB Community Economic Development Division (CEDD) and the Economic Development District (EDD) suggest the need for an explanation. The table below defines the differences.

	CEDD	EDD
Funding	Funded by KPB, federal and state grants;	Funded by grants – federal, state, borough;
Powers	Non area-wide economic development power, only unincorporated areas;	Borough-wide economic development powers;
Projects	Works on special projects for the mayor;	Assists in KPB long-term economic planning;
	Develops, monitors KPB grant funding;	Sponsors community economic forums;
	Publishes historical/current economic data;	Assists in community strategic planning.
	Oil and Gas liaison.

What is a “Moving Average Trendline?”

Charts in the KPB economic reports frequently include “moving average trendlines.” After individuals read the documents, comments make their way back to the office. One comment that has been heard several times addresses these trendlines, noting that they are not labeled correctly. They are. A description of “trendline” is in order.

The purpose of a trendline is to demonstrate the average of data groupings and how that average relates to averages of similar groupings within the chart.

Imagine that a bar chart illustrates twelve quarters of data. The trendline begins at the fourth entry in the series and marks the point representing the average of the first through the fourth numbers in the series, in this case a 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th quarter value, one year. The trendline continues to the right in the chart. As the trendline reaches the next entry in the series, the line will move to the point on the scale representing the average of the second through the fifth entries in the series – still four quarters of data, but this time those values would be the 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th quarter of the first year plus the 1^st quarter of the second year.

The process continues through the chart. As the line moves through the chart, it drops the entry marking the beginning of the trend point average, adds the entry just ahead of the previous set of four and indicates the average of the new set of four numbers in the series. The resulting “smoothing” effect allows the reader to more easily see change from one year to the next.

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