Forrest Dunbar, running for reelection for Anchorage Assembly, fussed during a work session on Thursday that some candidates for Assembly say the taxpayers could be on the hook for $59 million in expenditures, if FEMA doesn’t reimburse the city for the tens of millions spent in its Covid-19 response.
Those candidates are wrong, he said, because FEMA has not said it won’t reimburse the city.
He was interrupted by Assemblywoman Jamie Allard, who stated it is inappropriate of Dunbar to mention campaigns or candidates during an official work session of the Assembly.
Dunbar is being challenged by Stephanie Taylor for the East Anchorage Assembly seat that is part of the current election, which ends April 5.
Assembly Chair Suzanne LaFrance butted in while Allard was speaking and defended Dunbar, saying he was just speaking factually.
“This is Ms. LaFrance, and I believe it is appropriate to provide factual information about the city’s financial situation here,” LaFrance said.
But Allard held her ground: “It is, Ms. LaFrance, if you’re not talking about candidates or running a campaign. I would ask him to refrain.”
Dunbar did stop his campaign talk, pivoting to say he had “heard in public the misunderstanding that we are at a $50 million deficit, and I appreciate that Ms. Frasca [OMB director] did not phrase it that way, because it is not our operating budget. It is a request we have made of FEMA that could take years to potentially be resolved.”
Listen to the exchange at this link.
During the meeting, OMB Director Cheryl Frasca advised the Assembly that the Assembly had used both an Emergency Order and an Administrative Order to expend funds relating to meeting the Covid-19 pandemic challenge.
“You did use an A.O. for $25 million worth of authorization to spend related to Covid. You also used an E.O. for $92 million — almost $93 million. So you’ve used both tools in the past to help meet Covid-related, hopefully FEMA reimbursed expenses,” Frasca said. She also said it didn’t matter to FEMA where the funds came from; for example if they were advanced out of alcohol tax revenues, that was not a concern to FEMA.
“We submit the receipts for what we spent to FEMA, they don’t look at the source of the funds,” Frasca said.
Read: Anchorage likely on the hook for $56 million in homeless expenditures
Listen to the work session at this link.
Maybe the CARES money should have been spent keeping productive and employing businesses afloat rather than flushing it down the toilet on the homeless who are a drain on our economy.
Or perhaps not giving freebies to the Black Caucus. I hear Constant really likes Black Caucus!
Dunbar is part of the Assembly who used Covid money to buy shelter for homeless instead of helping small businesses. Anchorage has lost more than 100 small businesses due to the policies of Dunbar and the rest of the assembly. Any way you look at it Dunbar owns this.
Amen.
Dunbar and his Marxist Komrads bankrupted Anchorage, bankrupted almost half the restaurants, destroyed small businesses, all with an arrogant smirk on their faces. Meg Z has an a saying she isn’t political. What a pack of clowns.
Reimbursement shouldn’t be the concern here (well maybe it should), the real concern is the paper trail on where all this money went. Where did it go? Dunbar should ask the Chinese for reimbursement, our president and his son know many high ranking officials.
My finances would be just fine if the state paid me the $10,000 they own me in stolen PFD.
Funny thing. Debtors and customers don’t care about that. They want to be paid. They should be paid.
So instead of wishing for bailouts, deal with reality like the rest of us do.
Never forget, Anchorage. Bronson didn’t run away with the election. He squeaked by. This bozo was very nearly chosen by the voters as the mayor.
The bozo was probably chosen by the Clerk and ballot counters, but they just could not produce enough fake ballots to overcome the massive wave of voters for Bronson. It is the same reason why all the stops were pulled out for 2020, and the changes were made to the election laws in the City last year.
.
Remember, the election is only questionable if a liberal loses.
OK, some quick math here for the Taxpayers of Anchorage to chew on. For every resident in Anchorage this $59 million dollar shortfall means that each person owes Mr. Dunbar about $200. More likely however this money will come from property tax, so let’s say the average property tax bill for Anchorage home owners is $4,000, this means that 14,750 homeowners will pony up to cover for this short fall. Chump change, Right? Think about that before you vote.
Dunbar isn’t worried.
Wow Stephanie Taylor is Amazing!
Anyone of limited intelligence can see what a horrible job this person has done during the pandemic. Yet, he holds that he has a good chance of getting re-elected. Are most of the people in his district in agreement with his dis-service, or don’t they participate in voting? Or, has some group gotten really good at cheating? I would like to think that the non-voters in Anchorage just need to pony-up. The last few years should have been a great wake-up call. But I still see half of Anchorage walking around with face masks, so maybe they believe everything they hear from our “leadership “. Or maybe just zombies. Getting tired of it all. I want our old Alaska back. Then we can work on getting our Country back. I want my grandkids to be able to live as well as my generation. We have good morals, we need to quit questioning them and stand tall. And participate in government, starting with voting. In person.
I think people still wearing face masks wear them out of maintaining their pride. They know they don’t need to wear it, and still do. I think my mask wearing neighbors look cute and adorable still wearing mask, and our gullible, or trusting, characteristic reminds me why jesus went through what he had to face for us and the world, and jesus weeping when he looked at the crowd before raising lazarus because of God’s love for us. You know it! The pastor carry a huge responcibility correctly sheperding Jesus sheep (us-we are
all sheep). Being a pastor isn’t to be lightly taken treated like as an oridinary job, lives are at stake to eternal damanation.
C’mon Stephanie, all has no brakes! Take him over the coals for this blunder, mention it everywhere to everyone! We’re pulling for ya!
Can’t see the Forrest from the shrubs.
Never Ever Dunbar!!
So how do you ? Pull off a FEMA and 59 million?
And worried???
That whole article was worrisome!
Insane how much they spent without having the money first. Why did they spend so much on the homeless when homeless when there were so many families and businesses in need? Money shouldn’t have been spent if we didn’t have it. If the calculations are close to being correct above, I don’t have $4,000 extra dollars to chip in when the assembly were idiots with their spending practices. Maybe it should have to come out their personal pockets.
AkSonya, I think it is good to put in perspective how much money $59,000,000 is, High Schools have been built for less. Think of how many miles of roads that 59 million dollars would pave. How many homes could be hooked up to a new sewer system? You get the picture. Fixed assets that provide service to the community for decades into the future and here it appears that this money was spent without any appreciable value.
The Assembly clearly has way too much power and not enough accountability. Half of them seem more interested in advancing their political careers, harassing the Mayor’s office and forcing us to participate in a bunch of gay theatrics than acting for the benefit of Anchorage citizens, that is, the homeowning, legal residents. We can do better.
Its the risk taking or accepting money from people by their promise, the person or
government may disappoint not remembering its promise. Considering the w.h lack of responce to afghanistan anchorage’s reality may need to come up with the 56 million on its own. We will be o.k! Experiences be a bit more uncomfortable when hard choices are made. We lucky not 250, 000,000. The lesson should be let’s start reducing our dependence upon d.c.
Last time I checked clicking green shoes didn’t work. Maybe clinking the green beer was the substitute of heels. There’s no place like home.
Yep, sick of these privileged/talentless/entitled/arrogant white males– IT’S TIME for a new direction Anchorage!
Eric Blair! Yes! Enough of these self-righteous, self loathing, grossly unqualified idiots pretending to run government. Stephanie is a breath of fresh air. I don’t reside in Anchorage, much less on the East Side but believe it is the duty of free people everywhere to work to stop this kind of malignant political behavior.
Well the choice is reelect this clown, Mrs Taylor whom I think will be walked or myself.
At least I’ve made real money for businesses in profit when I worked there and trained the next generation.
Forrest always running from reality.
They spent money that came from the MUNI operating funds through some BS called inter-fund loans where by money in the operating budget for the city was redirected to different groups under the guise of “homeless” and other non profit organizations. Tax money, collected from Anchorage citizens, which will NOT be reimbursed by FEMA.
My Lord, what an idiot Dunbar truly is…sigh…
He spent a huge amount of other individuals’ monies upon ideological dalliances based upon a supposed promise of said recompense from a Nigerian Prince, i.e., the Federal Government, even though said expenditures were literally outside the scope of initially approved funding of said monies…
And ‘he’ now has the gall to protest his moronic actions as to, well, the Nigerian Prince, i.e., the Federal Government, has not said that it shall NOT reimburse the moronic spending outside the approved funding of said monies, but perhaps that Nigerian Prince, i.e., the Federal Government MAY reimburse said moronic spending?
There is a term for this thinking, and it is this. Willful ignorance. Which Dunbar exceeds within.
Run, Forrest. Run fast, run far, and run away from your imbecilic behavior and decision making, please!!!
You are an embarrassment not only unto the office unto which you hold, but unto the thinking human race.
That you were ever given the responsibility as a supposed representative you now hold is not only a travesty, but an abomination of all things pragmatic and realistic.
I wish you the best within your pathetic life, whereas you shall never achieve contentment, as you shall never achieve anything but self-contempt because of your own desire to wake each morning with the desire to be personally offended by outside forces beyond your control, which is a very sad way to live one’s life.
May I offer a bit of advice?
Take into your own home and property as many of the homeless community as you can, and get back to us, the rest of the community, how that is going in a month or two, and tell the rest of us, within complete honesty, of course, how we, as a community, can truly help the homeless…
You shall not, of course, as you shall never put your mouth, or action, where our money is, will you?
You are but a worthless power broker, and as such, said broker that you esteem to be is nonexistent…
You are simply worthless.
The left never has any problems spending other people’s money.
One time someone said to me lawyers never understand or respect the expertise of a CPA. I think that is an helpful assumption. Similarly health department directors never fathom the US Constitution counts for anything of any value.
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