Geography

Latitude 59 degrees, 38 minutes N

Longitude 151 degrees, 28 minutes W

Population (2000)

City of Homer 3,946

Hospital Service Area 12,736

Forms of government

Homer is a first-class city with a city manager/city council.

Kenai Peninsula Borough is a second-class borough with a mayor/assembly.

City taxes

Sales 3.5 percent

Property 5.5 mills

Borough taxes

Sales 2 percent

Property 7.5 mills

South Peninsula Hospital 2 mills

South Peninsula Roads 1 mill

Kenai Peninsula College 0.08 mills

Kachemak Emergency Serv. ?? mill

Housing costs

1-bdrm. apt. rental $450+

2-bdrm. apt. rental $600+

1-2-bdrm. house rental $700+

3-bdrm. house rental $850+

1-2 bdrm. house sales $85,000+

3-bdrm. house sales $100,000+

Utility costs

Telephone

Residential $19.80

Business $29.55

Electricity

1,000 kwh/mo. $117.28

Refuse (private/mo.)

Residential $16.22

Business (two-yard cont.) $63.02

Water/Sewer (1,000 gal./mo.)

Residential in town $46.25

On Spit $154.29

Cost of food

Family of four (school-age)/week

Homer $157.34

U.S. avg .$122.70

Area of City

Homer 10.33 square miles

Weather/Precipitation

Mean Annual 25.39 inches

Max. rain/24 hours 3.2 inches

Annual snowfall 57.8 inches

Max. snow/24 hours 24.5 inches

Temperatures

January mean high 28.5 degrees F.

January mean low 16.8 degrees F.

July mean high 60.5 degrees F.

July mean low 46.2 degrees F.

U.S. Postal Service

Post office boxes 2,874

City route boxes 930

Highway contract boxes 310

Media

Newspapers:

Homer News, Homer Tribune,

Peninsula Clarion (Kenai),

Anchorage Daily News

Radio:

KBBI (Public AM 890),

K-WAVE (FM 105),

KPEN (FM 102),

KGTL (AM 620)

Television:

Public (KAKM) Channel 7;

Channels 2, 5 and 13 subject to change

Cable TV:

Homer Cablevision

Accommodations

10 hotels/motels with 325 rooms, 1,019 beds year-round

Numerous B&Bs with 450 beds seasonally

Dining/restaurants

41 areawide, some open seasonally

Hourly Wage Rates

(1999 State figures for Railbelt)

Cannery Worker $7.86

Carpenter 20.49

Cashier 9.22

Cook (restaurant) 9.69

Janitor/Cleaner 9.87

Mechanic 19.53

Registered Nurse 22.21

Receptionist 9.64

Retail Salesperson 11.32

Secretary 13.80

Waiter/Waitress $ 6.78

Welder 20.95

Schools/size 2001-2002

Paul Banks Elementary 229

West Homer Elementary 296

McNeil Canyon Elementary 126

Homer Middle School 219

Homer High School 508

Homer High Flex School 48

Fireweed Academy (Charter) 28

Community Christian School 88

Several alternative private schools

Port/Harbor Facilities

More than 4,000 feet of transient dock space

772 stalls

500-foot Fish Dock facility

Nine self-operated cranes available 24 hours per day

Ice-making/holding facility with 200 tons of ice storage and 100 tons/day production capability

Cold storage facilities

Storage and staging areas

Potable water

Cash buyers for salmon, halibut and groundfish

345-foot Deep-Water Dock

Health Care Services

South Peninsula Hospital <> 20 acute care beds, 20 long-term beds

Home Health Services

Division of Family & Youth Services

Hospice of Homer

Homer Crisis Pregnancy Center

Kach. Bay Family Planning Clinic

Detente

Women's Resource Center

South Peninsula Women's Services

Senior Citizens/Friendship Center

Community Mental Health Center

Public health nurses

Six family physicians

Two surgeons

Seven dentists/orthodontists

Two pharmacies

One optician

One ophthalmologist

One orthopedic physician

Four chiropractors

Numerous massage, acupuncture and herbal medicine practitioners