Alaska

Alaska Senate eyes $100 million-plus in cuts in draft budget

Published

10 months ago

April 25, 2025

Alaska Senate eyes 0 million-plus in cuts in draft budget

JUNEAU — The Alaska Senate is eyeing over $100 million in budget cuts, but a more than $85 million shortfall remains in the Senate’s draft spending plan.

The Senate Finance Committee on Thursday unveiled its new version of the budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1. The spending plan has a roughly $1,400 Permanent Fund dividend, and plans to pay a $172 million increase in school funding, closely matching what was appropriated last year for schools.

Legislators are grappling this year with a dire fiscal outlook due to diminished oil revenue. The Legislature is facing a $680 million-plus deficit over two fiscal years based on status quo spending.

Lawmakers say they have few good options to balance the budget.

Leadership of the Democrat-dominated Senate majority has opposed drawing from savings to fill the projected deficit for the next fiscal year. Senators have instead introduced new revenue measures, including oil tax hikes, to balance the budget. But the House has shown little interest in those proposals.

Bethel Democratic Sen. Lyman Hoffman, who manages the Senate’s operating budget, sent a memorandum to senators in March directing them to look for cuts and not to fund new programs.

Additionally, Hoffman said that the Senate should reject additions to the baseline budget proposed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, except for Medicaid spending. Over $60 million in requests from the Dunleavy administration were rejected by Senate subcommittees, Hoffman’s staff said Thursday.

The Senate is calling for over $100 million in agency reductions in its draft budget:

• After years of increases, the Alaska Department of Corrections would see an almost $32 million cut from the spending plan proposed by the Dunleavy administration for the agency. Reductions include a $7.5 million cut to Spring Creek Correctional Center, with the intention to close a housing unit.

• Almost $18 million would be cut from the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. The fund provides over 50% of state revenue each year. Senators are calling for a 10% reduction in staff not involved in making investment decisions for the fund.

• The Alaska Department of Health would see a $14 million cut, including $4 million cut from a new virtual call center used to pay Alaskans state benefits.

• The Alaska Department of Public Safety would see an almost $12 million budget cut. Dunleavy had proposed reopening an Alaska State Troopers post in Talkeetna, but that was rejected in the Senate’s draft budget along with additional Village Public Safety Officers in the Arctic.

• The University of Alaska would see an almost $10 million cut, largely from rejecting salary increases that are not part of labor agreements. Almost $8 million would be cut from the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, largely by not replacing state vehicles as quickly as planned.

Jason Brune, chair of the Permanent Fund’s board, said trustees are concerned the proposed budget reductions could impact the corporation’s ability to “maximize” the value of its investments. But Brune said trustees recognize the budget process is ongoing.

“There is an opportunity to work together with the Legislature to ensure that optimal funding is available for the investment management work we do for the Permanent Fund and the other funds entrusted to our care,” he said.

Additionally, the Senate is looking to make smaller budget reductions that could prove contentious.

Last year, the Legislature voted to defund the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. unless it secured financing for a long-sought gas pipeline. This year, the Senate is planning to cut $2.5 million from the Alaska Gasline Development Corp.’s budget with plans that the agency be largely funded by private sources.

Frank Richards, president of the AGDC, told lawmakers on Wednesday that if that cut is approved, the agency would continue representing the state’s interests in the planned pipeline with “very few assets.”

“It would make it a challenge to be able to perform the functions to properly act as a minority owner in a major, significant project development,” he said.

Senators report making tough budget decisions during the subcommittee process.

Juneau Democratic Sen. Jesse Kiehl, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, warned earlier in the month that the Senate’s “austere” budget would still see a sizable fiscal shortfall.

The Senate’s draft budget has the same $1,400 Permanent Fund dividend as the House. But in general, the Senate’s current spending plan is markedly different from the budget approved by the House earlier in the month.

The House’s operating budget advanced with most of Dunleavy’s budget requests intact, along with spending added by legislators. The House’s budget advanced with a projected $259 million deficit for the next fiscal year as Republican minority members complained that the Democrat-dominated House majority had done enough to cut the budget.

The House included a one-time, $253 million school funding increase in case a permanent $1,000 boost in per-student spending is not approved this year. The Legislature on Tuesday failed to override Dunleavy’s veto of a $1,000 Base Student Allocation increase.

The Senate’s draft budget contains a $172 million one-time school funding increase. That would roughly match the same school funding boost the Legislature approved last year.

Additionally, the Senate rejected an unallocated $79 million cut to the budget approved by the House. That would have directed Dunleavy to reduce the budget from wherever he chooses. But the Legislature’s attorneys warned that move would likely be unconstitutional.

Earlier in the month, the Senate advanced a stripped-down capital budget. The spending plan, which funds infrastructure and maintenance projects, would draw $120 million less from the state treasury than the capital budget proposed by Dunleavy.

Despite the Senate’s planned budget reductions, a more than $85 million projected deficit remains for the next fiscal year. That could balloon as labor agreements are finalized with state agencies, lawmakers said.

Hoffman concluded Thursday’s Senate Finance Committee meeting by telling members that “there still has to be work that needs to be done on this budget in order to have it balanced.”

“We are still in deficit mode,” he added.

The regular legislative session must end by midnight of May 21.

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Alaska

Over $150K worth of drugs seized from man in Juneau, police say

Published

11 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Over 0K worth of drugs seized from man in Juneau, police say

JUNEAU, Alaska (KTUU) – An Alaska drug task force seized roughly $162,000 worth of controlled substances during an operation in Juneau Thursday, according to the Juneau Police Department.

Around 3 p.m. Thursday, investigators with the Southeast Alaska Cities Against Drugs (SEACAD) approached 50-year-old Juneau resident Jermiah Pond in the Nugget Mall parking lot while he was sitting in his car, according to JPD.

A probation search of the car revealed a container holding about 7.3 gross grams of a substance that tested presumptively positive for methamphetamine, as well as about 1.21 gross grams of a substance that tested presumptively positive for fentanyl.

As part of the investigation, investigators executed a search warrant at Pond’s residence, during which they found about 46.63 gross grams of ketamine, 293.56 gross grams of fentanyl, 25.84 gross grams of methamphetamine and 25.5 gross grams of MDMA.

In all, it amounted to just less than a pound of drugs worth $162,500.

Investigators also seized $102,640 in cash and multiple recreational vehicles believed to be associated with the investigation.

Pond was lodged on charges of second-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance, two counts of third-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance, five counts of fourth-degree misconduct involving a substance and an outstanding felony probation warrant.

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Alaska

Sand Point teen found 3 days after going missing in lake

Published

23 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Sand Point teen found 3 days after going missing in lake

SAND POINT, Alaska (KTUU) – A teenage boy who was last seen Monday when the canoe he was in tipped over has been found by a dive team in a lake near Sand Point, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Alaska’s News Source confirmed with the person, who is close to the search efforts, that the dive team found 15-year-old Kaipo Kaminanga deceased Thursday in Red Cove Lake, located a short drive from the town of Sand Point on the Aleutian Island chain.

Kaminanga was last seen canoeing with three other friends on Monday when the boat tipped over.

A search and rescue operation ensued shortly after.

Alaska Dive Search Rescue and Recovery Team posted on Facebook Thursday night that they were able to “locate and recover” Kaminanga at around 5 p.m. Thursday.

“We are glad we could bring closure to his family, friends and community,” the post said.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated when more details become available.

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Alaska

Opinion: Homework for Alaska: Sales tax or income tax?

Published

1 day ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Opinion: Homework for Alaska: Sales tax or income tax?

iStock / Getty Images

This is a tax tutorial for gubernatorial candidates, for legislators who will report to work next year and for the Alaska public.

Think of it as homework, with more than eight months to complete the assignment that is not due until the November election. The homework is intended to inform, not settle the debate over a state sales tax or state income tax — or neither, which is the preferred option for many Alaskans.

But for those Alaskans willing to consider a tax as a personal responsibility to help fund schools, roads, public safety, child care, state troopers, prisons, foster care and everything else necessary for healthy and productive lives, someday they will need to decide on a state income tax or a state sales tax after they accept the checkbook reality that oil and Permanent Fund earnings are not enough.

This homework assignment is intended to get people thinking with facts, not emotions. Electing the right candidates will be the first test.

Alaskans have until the next election because nothing will change this year. It will take a new political alignment led by a reality-based governor to organize support in the Legislature and among the public.

But next year, maybe, with the right elected leadership, Alaskans can debate a state sales tax or personal income tax. Plus, of course, corporate taxes and oil production taxes, but those are for another school day.

One of the biggest arguments in favor of a state sales tax is that visitors would pay it. Yes, they would, but not as much as many Alaskans think.

Air travel is exempt from sales taxes. So are cruise ship tickets. That’s federal law, which means much of what tourists spend on their Alaska vacation is beyond the reach of a state sales tax.

Cutting further into potential revenues, state and federal law exempts flightseeing tours from sales tax, which is a particularly costly exemption when you think about how much visitors spend on airplane and helicopter tours.

That leaves sales tax supporters collecting from tourists on T-shirts, gifts for grandchildren, artwork, postcards, hotels, Airbnb, car rentals and restaurant meals. Still a substantial take for taxes, but far short of total tourism spending.

An argument against a state sales tax is that more than 100 cities and boroughs already depend on local sales taxes to pay for schools and other public services. Try to imagine what a state tax piled on top of a local tax would do to kill shopping in Homer, already at 7.85%, or Kodiak, Wrangell and Cordova, all at 7%, and all the other municipalities.

Supporters of an income tax say it would share the responsibility burden with nonresidents who earn income in Alaska and then return home to spend their money.

Almost one in four workers in Alaska in 2024 were nonresidents, as reported by the state Department of Labor in January. That doesn’t include federal employees, active-duty military or self-employed people.

Nonresidents earned roughly $3.8 billion, or about 17% of every dollar covered in the report.

However, many of those nonresident workers are lower-wage and seasonal, employed in the seafood processing and tourism industries, unlikely to pay much in income taxes. But a tax could be structured so that they pay something, which is fair.

Meanwhile, higher-wage workers in oil and gas, mining, construction and airlines (freight and passenger service) would pay taxes on their income earned in Alaska, which also is fair.

It comes down to what would direct more of the tax burden to nonresidents: a tax on income or on visitor spending. Wages or wasabi-crusted salmon dinners.

Larry Persily is a longtime Alaska journalist, with breaks for federal, state and municipal public policy work in Alaska and Washington, D.C. He lives in Anchorage and is publisher of the Wrangell Sentinel weekly newspaper.

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