Alaska

Amid budget struggle, Alaska has little money for new construction or renovation

Published

10 months ago

May 16, 2025

Amid budget struggle, Alaska has little money for new construction or renovation

Rep. Jeremy Bynum, R-Ketchikan, speaks to Rep. Calvin Schrage, I-Anchorage, during a vote on amendments to the state’s capital budget on Monday, May 12, 2025. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

The Alaska House of Representatives, following in the path of the state Senate, has approved a small construction and renovation budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

The vote on Senate Bill 57, the annual infrastructure bill — formally known as the capital budget — was 21-19, along caucus lines.

When oil prices and production are high, the Alaska Legislature pours hundreds of millions of dollars into new construction and maintenance projects. This spring, with the Legislature anticipating low oil prices and reduced federal funding, the House version of the capital budget proposes to spend just $167.9 million in general-purpose dollars.

In comparison, the capital budget two years ago spent more than three-quarters of a billion dollars. The newly approved capital budget isn’t the smallest in recent history — in 2016, legislators approved just $107 million — but spending is very limited by historical standards, noted Rep. Calvin Schrage, I-Anchorage, who oversaw the budget on the House Finance Committee.

“This was not a fun or easy year to be the capital budget co-chair,” Schrage said, “due to our state’s dire fiscal picture. We had to say no — or at least not now — to a lot of good projects that would have benefited Alaskans. That said, we were still able to make some meaningful investments.”

A significant amount of the capital budget is being set aside for matching funds needed to unlock federal grants. For example, it allocates $57.2 million in general-purpose money to the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, which gives the state access to more than $2 billion in transportation funding once federal money is considered.

It isn’t yet clear how federal budget cuts will affect that figure. The budget is set based on what is known as of today.

With general-purpose revenue limited, the House and Senate finance committees were mostly limited to assigning money to deferred maintenance projects at state facilities spread across Alaska.

For example, the Senate added $19 million to the major maintenance list at public schools. The House added another $19 million on top of that, enough to cover the top nine projects on the list.

“We basically had an agreement going in; we got half, they got half,” said Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka and Senate Finance Committee co-chair.

When it came to discretionary funding, requests from individual legislators for things like playgrounds or streetlights, the House and Senate were again treated equally.

“Everybody got nothing,” Stedman said.

Budget documents show few exceptions to Stedman’s comment.

One of the few budget additions made by the House was $500,000 for a Blood Bank of Alaska testing lab. Gov. Mike Dunleavy requested the money, the Senate rejected it, but the House added it back in.

In many places, the budget attempted to use other sources of money instead of general-purpose dollars that primarily come from Permanent Fund earnings, oil taxes and royalties.

For example, Dunleavy requested $7 million for a time and attendance system to be used by state employees. The Senate cut that request to $4 million, and instead of using general-purpose dollars, lawmakers took additional money from the accounts of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority. The House approved that change.

Of the budget overall, Schrage said lawmakers tried to deny projects equally, without regard to party or district.

“I know that this won’t make everyone happy, but we’ve done the best that we can,” he said.

The budget will return to the Senate for a concurrence vote, then advance to Dunleavy, who has line-item veto power and may eliminate individual budget items but cannot add new ones.

Originally published by the Alaska Beacon, an independent, nonpartisan news organization that covers Alaska state government.

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Alaska

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

Published

8 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

20 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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