Governor Bill Walker, moments before 12-year-old Wasilla student Shania Sommer officially unveiled the PFD amount, said this year’s dividend is remarkable for another reason: it comes at a time when Alaska’s state government faces billion-dollar deficits.
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Alaska residents must have lived in the state an entire calendar year before becoming eligible to receive the money.
“The Permanent Fund was created to take some portion of Alaska’s one-time revenues at the start of Prudhoe Bay, and put those revenues into a status, into an account, into a fund …” A permanent fund was established in 1976 so all generations of Alaskans could benefit from the riches of the state’s natural resources, and the state began distributing dividends to residents in 1982. But unlike Alaska, which distributes proceeds from the fund to residents, North Dakota lawmakers can’t touch the fund until 2017 – and only if two-thirds of legislators vote to withdraw cash. Since 1982, just over $23.3 billion has been distributed to Alaskans through PFD checks.
Walker preceded Sommer’s appearance by remembering late Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. executive director Mike Burns, who died in July shortly after retiring from a decade at the corporation’s helm. The annual payments as they are based off of how well the fund performs, and not directly tied to oil prices.
The fund’s value now sits at $51 billion and produced more earnings during the most recent fiscal year than oil production did for the state, Walker told the news conference. We are paying out more in PFD checks than we are for the education of young Alaskans like Shania-at a time when we are struggling with a $3.5 billion deficit.
Despite his critical view of the Alaska Permanent Fund, Walker is in favor of developing ANWR and making changes to the state’s permitting process.
The previous record was set in 2008, when dividend checks came in at $2,069.
“Across Alaska, we are laying off school teachers, cutting trooper posts, and scaling back services provided by the state”, said Walker.
Sen. Anna MacKinnon, R-Eagle River, is part of a cohort that prefers to explore the possibility of using Permanent Fund earnings before any talks of taxation.
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For years any discussion about tapping into the dividends was considered politically unsafe , but Alaska Governor Bill Walker, as well as economists, has said it is time to re-examine options.
