Ketchikan: Ketchikan Borough Assembly Considers Urging State to Include Permanent Fund in Fiscal Plan By MARY KAUFFMAN - As Permanent Fund Dividends are being distributed to Alaskans in Ketchikan and around the state this week, the Ketchikan Borough Assembly will consider a resolution urging the State of Alaska to implement a long-range fiscal plan which will include the utilization of Permanent Fund earnings. This resolution is just one of many items on the Borough Assembly's agenda to be discussed Monday, October 5, 2015.

Ketchikan Borough Assembly Chambers, 1900 First Avenue, Suite 144 (WhiteCliff Building).
Courtesy Google Maps...

At the current pace of spending, the State is anticipated to drain the Constitutional Budget Reserve and Statutory Budget Reserve account in the years to come. Three primary sources of revenue have been discussed to help bridge the fiscal gap: tapping Permanent Fund earnings, a statewide sales tax and/or an income tax. The Ketchikan Assembly will consider in new business Resolution 2619 which if passed, will encourage the State of Alaska to implement a long-range fiscal plan which, among other things, utilizes Permanent Fund earnings and cuts State spending.

A position paper from former Fairbanks Senator Gary Wilken describing the impacts of each fiscal solution on citizens was provided for consideration as well as a document on economic considerations with revenue options from the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

According to Sen. Wilken's "Everyone Helps A Little" fiscal plan, $1 billion can be raised for the state's General Fund by:

• asking middle class working Alaskans to pay $1,700 a year in an income tax, or
• asking all Alaskans and visitors to pay a sales tax costing $1,990 a year, or
• the Legislature can draw $1 billion from the Permanent Fund Earning account (ERA) at a cost to every Alaskan of less than $100 the first year and a total cost, over five years, of $172.

According to KGB's Resolution 2619, failure to develop a long-term plan to deal with the fiscal challenges will have serious ramifications for the Alaska economy and is evidenced by the decision by Standard & Poor to lower Alaska's credit outlook from "stable" to "negative" in August. Moody's Investors Service revised its outlook for Alaska in December 2014 from "stable" to reflect a "negative" outlook also.

Alaska House Rules Chairman Craig Johnson (R-Anchorage) said, “Alaska is an owner state, and the dividend represents each Alaskan’s personal stake in the management of our resource wealth." Johnson said the PFD creates an “ownership” interest that helps connect Alaskans to the Permanent Fund and keeps politicians from raiding it.

Representative Johnson said, “Like shareholders in a corporation, Alaskans through the dividend have a stake in what happens to the Permanent Fund.” As a result, Johnson said, politicians are very reluctant to tamper with it. “Anyone thinking about raiding the Permanent Fund knows they’ll have to answer to Alaskans.” - More...
Saturday PM - October 03, 2015

Southeast Alaska: Native American Remains Unearthed in Southeast Alaska - A delivery of dirt for constructing new aviaries at the American Bald Eagle Foundation in Haines contained part of a human skull, according to a report from Alaska Public Media. At first, the volunteers who discovered the bone did not recognize what they had found. “Everyone was pretty much just in shock - eyes wide, jaws dropped. This doesn’t happen to real people, this is something that you’d only see in a movie or something,” said raptor curator Chloe Goodson.

Haines police responded to the call, and brought in anthropologist Anastasia Wiley, who determined that the remains are those of a Native American woman who was at least 40 years old at the time of death, most likely sometime before 1700. - More...
Saturday PM - October 03, 2015

Fish Factor: Few bright spots in permit prices By LAINE WELCH - “Unsettled” best describes the mood among brokers in the business of buying, selling and trading Alaska salmon permits and quota shares of various catches.

For salmon permits, “the dust hasn’t really settled” since the season ended, said Doug Bowen of Alaska Boats and Permits in Homer, but at the moment, prices are tanking across the board.

“There were a few bright spots but several areas in the state did not do well, either because of production or price or both. That’s put a downward press on permit prices,” he added.

Bristol Bay drift gillnet permits have taken the biggest hit after another huge sockeye run ran into a perfect storm of backlogged markets, depressed global currencies and record imports of foreign farmed fish. Bay fishermen were shocked to get a base price of 50 cents a pound, down from an average $1.34 last summer.

“Those permit prices in the spring were as high as $175,000 and last week we sold one for $112,000. That’s a big drop in just a few short months. And we see a similar pattern with other salmon gillnet permits,” Bowen said, adding that “there is almost no interest – not yet anyway.”

Likewise, there’s little action in the salmon seine permit market.

“It will be interesting to see what happens at Prince William Sound,” Bowen said. “They had a record year with 97 million pinks but got just 20 cents a pound. So great production, lousy price. There are several permits on the market at $200K, but no interest. And at Kodiak, several seine permits are listed at under $40,000, but again, no interest yet.”

Salmon power troll permits were the only ones moving in Southeast Alaska, according to Olivia Olsen at Alaskan Quota and Permits in Petersburg. At listings of $35,000 to $46,000 “those are still down $5,000,” she said.

Both brokers agree that as salmon forecasts come out for next year, buying interest is likely to tick up. But a bad fishing season means there is not a lot of excess capital floating around to upgrade or buy a new boat, or add another permit to a fishing portfolio.

“It was a dismal season the way the prices were,” said Olsen. “They might be catching more fish, but prices were too low to come out ahead. And if salmon prices stay down, guys are going to turn their interest to other areas.”

“It’s still early,” said Bowen. “We’ll see how this plays out. - More...
Saturday PM - October 03, 2015