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JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — It’s crunch time for Alaska lawmakers, who face a looming deadline to complete their session and decide some of its thorniest issues. Wednesday will mark the 121st day of the regular session, the constitutional limit though a 10-day extension is allowable. Lawmakers last month blew past a 90-day voter-approved session limit, which wasn’t seen as realistic given Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s budget hadn’t been released until a month into session and the House didn’t organize until around the same time. Legislative...
WRANGELL — Members of the Wrangell School District and the borough assembly came together for a joint workshop on the school district’s recently adopted budget. As Superintendent Debbe Lancaster said in the past, and repeated in Monday evening’s meeting, this was a “no fat” budget that was operating very close to the district’s bare minimum. The FY 2020 budget is assuming $6.34 million in revenue, and almost the same in expenses. In comparison, this is a decrease from the FY 2019 budget whic...
WRANGELL — Lean times are ahead for the Wrangell School District, according to the budget that was adopted on April 30. Funding for the district has been a topic of much concern ever since Governor Mike Dunleavy released his proposals for the state budget. One of his proposals was a major cut to the Base Student Allocation, a program that gives schools money for every student in their district. It has been very challenging to prepare a budget for the new school year without knowing for sure w...
A special meeting was held on April 17 by the borough assembly to discuss the proposed fiscal year 2020 Petersburg Borough budget before it goes before the assembly for its first reading on May 6. Finance director Jody Tow presented a slideshow detailing the general and enterprise funds for the proposed budget. Expenditures in the general fund total $9,567,149 for the 2020 budget, but it's balanced out by $9,571,545 in revenues. The total amount of excess of revenues over expenditures is...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The biggest issues heading into this year’s legislative session remain unresolved in the session’s final weeks, with Gov. Mike Dunleavy facing resistance to pieces of his agenda. Lawmakers have yet to finalize a budget. The size of the check residents will get this year from the state’s oil-wealth fund, the Alaska Permanent Fund, is unsettled, as is the debate over the program’s future. The Republican governor wants lawmakers to pass his package of bills related to crime and act on proposed constitutional amendment...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy is right. The Legislature and governor the past three years appropriated money for individual Permanent Fund dividends contrary to the 1982 formula in state statute. So what? They did it for good reason. They did their job. The Legislature voted to pass a responsible budget based on Alaska's fiscal reality, balancing the needs and wants of individuals vs. the needs and services of the entire state. Despite what the new governor promised voters last fall, communities do not...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - The Alaska House is set to begin debating next week its version of the state operating budget, which spares areas such as education, the university system, Medicaid and the state ferry system the level of cuts proposed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy. Whatever passes the House will go to the Senate, and differences between the two will need to be hashed out. Top lawmakers have said they want to work with Dunleavy to limit potential vetoes. Dunleavy called for sweeping budget cuts in response to an ongoing deficit currently...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Gov. Mike Dunleavy is proposing a fiscal plan that includes sweeping cuts and providing Alaska residents with a full payout from the oil-wealth fund, and many residents are unhappy about it. The annual check paid to qualified residents was capped the past three years as state leaders struggled to address an ongoing budget deficit now estimated at $1.6 billion. Dunleavy campaigned on wanting to get residents their full payout. Now that he's governor, they're learning what that means. He has proposed cuts to a range of s...
The borough assembly approved ordinance #2019-02 in its first reading on Monday that would update the borough's sales tax code to include language regarding internet sales of goods and services. Although the current tax code doesn't mention internet sales tax, it doesn't forbid it, according to finance director Judy Tow. The ordinance would just broaden the language in the sales tax code to internet vendors not located in Petersburg or Alaska. According to Tow, until the state has a unified...
Daily, it becomes increasingly clear Gov. Mike Dunleavy's staff is the gang that can't count, talk or think straight. Most everything the administration says is misleading, half-true or false, a perfect 10 on the truthlessness scale. They seemingly can't do simple math, read the Alaska Constitution or perform factual analysis of a smoke-and-mirrors budget plan. Fortunately, majorities in both houses of the Legislature are showing leadership lacking in the executive. If not so tragic, the...
The borough assembly approved an amended letter to Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Monday requesting that he travel to Southeast Alaska to speak on his 2020 fiscal year proposed budget and give an open-forum style meeting without involvement from Americans for Prosperity. On March 18, Dunleavy announced a statewide road show to discuss his FY2020 budget proposal. The locations included Kenai, Anchorage, Nome, Fairbanks and Mat-Su, with dates ranging from March 25 through 29. The road tour was sponsored...
None of the members of the Senate Community and Regional Affairs committee (CRA) lives near the sea, but at a hearing last week they were not impressed by Governor Dunleavy's plan to pull millions of dollars in fish taxes from remote coastal towns. Bills submitted to the legislature by the governor would remove the ability of towns to keep their share of local fisheries business and landing taxes. For decades, the taxes have been split 50/50 with the state. Dunleavy wants to take all of the...
The borough assembly shot down the idea of creating a disturbing the peace ordinance at their assembly meeting on Monday. Assembly member Taylor Norheim requested the assembly entertain the idea of creating a disturbing the peace ordinance after a Petersburg resident asked him if the assembly could create such an ordinance because she has a neighbor who makes a considerable amount of noise at night. “She had an issue with apparently one of her neighbors who is a drug addict or something like that and does weird stuff in the middle of the night...
Dave Kensinger, former chairman of the Marine Transportation Advisory Board, anticipates that the Alaska Marine Highway System could face difficulties restarting services if it were to shut down in October. Under Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s proposed 2020 fiscal year budget, cuts to the AMHS would prevent the ferry system from operating past Oct. 1. Should the ferry system shut down, Kensinger said that a ripple effect would make it increasingly hard to get it up and running again. Specialized employees would find themselves without work and have to s...
A town hall meeting was called by Mayor Mark Jensen last week to hear comments and concerns from the public regarding Gov. Mike Dunleavy's proposed budget for the 2020 fiscal year. The community was overwhelmingly against the proposed budget, which would balance Alaska's $1.6 billion deficient by cutting expenditures to equal revenues without create new sources of revenue. According to a document created by the borough, Petersburg could face a total economic impact of over $3 million. It was...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Gov. Mike Dunleavy says he’s eager for the Alaska Legislature to offer alternatives for addressing the state’s ongoing deficit. Dunleavy says that while he attends an energy conference next week in Texas he hopes the legislature will “get serious” about budget proposals. House and Senate lawmakers have been working through details of Dunleavy’s budget, which was introduced last month. His plan to fill a projected $1.6 billion deficit includes sweeping cuts to areas such as education, health and social service programs an...
SITKA, Alaska (AP) — A historic Alaska museum and library may be sold at the direction of Gov. Mike Dunleavy, according to a state official. The Sheldon Jackson Museum and adjacent Stratton Library building in Sitka, southwest of Juneau, are under consideration for sale or transfer. The Daily Sitka Sentinel reported . Patience Frederiksen, Alaska’s director of libraries, archives and museums, informed a legislative subcommittee about the Republican governor’s plans last Friday. The museum founded in 1897 by Presbyterian missionary Sheld...
The Petersburg Borough will send out a request for proposals for a new baler, after the assembly approved the decision on Monday. In January, the borough assembly passed Ordinance 2018-21, which allocates $600,000 towards the replacement of the borough’s baler. The request for proposals, or RFP, has a deadline of April 4, and gives a description of what is needed from the baler and the bidder. At Monday’s assembly meeting, assembly member Bob Lynn was concerned with how similar in scope the potential new baler, as laid out in the RFP, is to...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A co-chairman of the Senate Finance Committee said Thursday he wants to reach a budget agreement that would fund the state’s ferry system through mid-2020. Sen. Bert Stedman, a Sitka Republican, said that would allow time for further discussion about management of the system going forward. Stedman said he views Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s budget proposal as an “elimination budget” for the Alaska Marine Highway System. A spokeswoman for the ferry system has said it hasn’t scheduled sailings past Oct. 1. Stedman said he wants to...
WRANGELL - The Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, SEACC, was founded in 1970 to protect the land and wildlife of the Tongass National Forest. The SEACC board of directors is made up of people who have made this region their home, from Seattle to Yakutat. Current Board President Stephen Todd is a Wrangell resident. SEACC board members and staff all came to Wrangell this past week to hold meetings on topics they felt were of public interest. The main two topics that were brought up were the Ro...
At the end of their meeting on Monday, the borough assembly briefly discussed Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s proposed budget for Alaska’s 2020 fiscal year and how it would affect the borough. Dunleavy’s proposed budget would solve Alaska’s $1.6 billion deficit by having expenditures equal to the amount of the state’s revenue. As a result, state departments and programs face budget reductions. “It sounds like this governor is interested in one thing only, which is a balanced budget with no new sources of income what so ever,” said borough manager Steph...
After Gov. Mike Dunleavy released his proposed budget earlier this month that looks to solve a $1.6 billion deficit through cuts in statewide funding, the Petersburg School District’s base student allocation would be reduced by $1,050 per student, according to Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter. On Tuesday, the Petersburg School District is going to host a community conversation in the Wright auditorium at 6 P.M. to discuss the district’s budget. Currently, the school district receives $5,930 in funding from Alaska for each of the dis...
The borough assembly on Monday passed Ordinance #2019-01 in its first reading, which would assign designated borough assembly seats. Should the ordinance pass, borough election ballots would no longer allow voters to choose which candidates they want to fill the open assembly seats, but instead, the candidates would choose a specific seat to run for. “It’s a really good form of democracy,” said vice mayor Jeigh Stanton Gregor. “If I was choosing to run for Senate, I’d either ran against Sen. Sullivan or Sen. Murkowski... It’s more in line with...
Sen. Bert Stedman addressed Gov. Mike Dunleavy's proposed budget for Alaska's 2020 fiscal year at the annual Petersburg Chamber of Commerce banquet on Saturday. Dunleavy released his proposed budget on Feb. 13. Determined to not raise taxes and to distribute a $3,000 permanent dividend check to every Alaskan, Dunleavy's proposed budget will solve Alaska's $1.6 billion deficit by having expenditures equal to the amount of the state's revenue. As a result, state departments and programs face...
Four discussion items were removed from Monday’s assembly meeting agenda by the assembly that would have addressed cuts and additions to the borough’s 2020 fiscal year budget. In the beginning of the meeting, assembly member Bob Lynn made the motion to amend the agenda and remove the four items. The items would have called for a discussion on whether to add a full time fire fighter/EMT to the fire department, reduce some community services, give department head merit increases and eliminate snow removal outside of service area one. Lynn, who...
