Gov. Mike Dunleavy will unveil his FY 2026 budget on Thursday, in a press event that will be livestreamed on Facebook.
He said his budget priorities are public safety, education, energy, and affordability.
The event, to include the operating and capital budgets, will start at 1 p.m. in his cabinet conference room in Juneau, and on his Facebook page.
The budget process begins with the budget offered by the governor no later than Dec. 15, and then taken up in the House and Senate when they meet in January. Typically the budget is a several-month negotiation that ends with the governor’s vetos and signature no later than June 30.
This will be Dunleavy’s seventh budget since taking office in 2018, including the budget he cobbled together immediately after taking office and inheriting the Gov. Walker budget.
Last year, his budget proposal was for $13.9 billion, considering all sources. As enacted, the operating budget totaled $12.2 billion and the capital budget totaled $3.5 billion for this current fiscal year. The governor’s line-item vetoes reduced the operating budget by $105.7 million and the capital budget by $126.3 million.
At the same general time the budget is released, the state Department of Revenue typically releases the fall oil price and production forecasts, which predict how much oil revenue is expected to come into the state to pay for state services, as well as how much is expected to be transferred from the Alaska Permanent Fund to the General Fund.
At a minimum, these budgets need to be trimmed by … 25%.
State Guv’ment is way too big! We need to do more with less.
I very much agree with you. Our population doubled while oil production dropped by 80 percent. So we are now spending the Permanent Fund as evidenced by the persistently declining buying power of the so-called corpus. The bureaucracy is very experienced and is institutionally geared to play hide the peanut with the budget process: Each department has techniques to move its vital services to General Fund and move everything else to federal funding, program income, the sacrosanct capital budget, and interagency transfers. Every two years a new crop of legislators come to Juneau largely clueless about a complicated checkbook amounting to many billions of dollars. Every dollar has one or more lobbyists. Most state employees are unionized, and few if any legislator has read even one of the bargaining unit contracts.
The 37.5 hour week, dozen or so paid holidays, 6 weeks (typically) paid vacation, and travel to meetings and conferences (airline miles accruing to employees personally, of course) mean that Alaska state and municipal governments have twice as many employees to accomplish the same amount of work that a private sector employer would have, all in the bargained union contracts. But Alaska also has a disproportionately large SNAP and Medicaid population, somehow highly correlated with the numbers of government employees. Elected officials, and people running for election shout about the needs for jobs in this mine or that industry but we have unfilled jobs right now and people choose to be on the dole.
For all this spending there are many irrefutable and widely available numbers that show that government achieves very poor results. Standardized student test scores, anadromous fish populations, and the dearth of many common economic sectors after so much spending to bring them here are just a few examples.
This is a true story. Many years ago, on a Sunday morning, I was sitting in the House Finance room ready to be called to explain/defend my state agency budget and the department finance director came and whispered in my ear. Nodding toward one committee member he said, “Be careful, that son of a bitch called me yesterday and he may understand your budget!”
Does the state need to be the largest low-income apartment owner? The only state in the missile launching business? The campground and recreational park business (when we have so much national park land)? The student loan business (with 2 competing agencies)? The railroad business? The marine freight and passenger business? The airport business? The nursing home business? The business loan and project financing business? The residential and rental housing mortgage business? The municipal finance and lending business? Do we really need to have the most subsidized and most mediocre land grant university system in the history of the United States? All of these enterprises lose money but many are able to hide that with the duplicity of elected officials.
There are Alaskans who are actually stupid enough to believe that our economy can now support this thing we built with oil money by implementing an income tax, and some of those stupid people have been elected. Some are not that stupid but also not all that honest. The aggregate amount spent on state elections is one very good measure of how difficult it is to make common sense reductions in state and municipal government spending.
The arithmetic of where to cut the budget is very easy. The state doesn’t depreciate, amortize, capitalize, research, etc. etc. It’s just a checkbook. But the politics could hardly be more difficult. We have a new legislature, a lame-duck, barely interested governor, a huge lobbyist corps, a very vulnerable Permanent Fund, and an expectation of lower oil prices: It would be very easy to build unrealistic expectations for budget reductions. We should all be thankful for Must Read Alaska though.
One of the best, most truthful, hard-hitting comments ever. I think I know who you are (TB) by your skillful writing style. Thanks for chiming in despite being too cowardly to ID yourself.
Any suggestions to accompany the goal?
Not meant to be argumentative as your statement is common without substance.
I would bet what you want cut is not what somebody else wants which leaves the “cutters” doing noting based on NIMBY mentality
Cheers
A Johnson: Hard to fathom your comments if they were directed at KAYAK. KAYAK’s informed statement was loaded with substance. In case you missed the basic point made by KAYAK it’s likely that consolidation and reductions are necessary in many areas, especially when targeted to increase efficiencies.
If you need examples you’re probably not paying attention but I’ll float one obvious example: the fantastically incompetent and wasteful Alaska Industrial Development & Export Authority.
Let’s hear what you propose to cut instead of the wise guy comments about a solid statement neatly supported.
You’re right Joe. However, its noted you cite AIDA rather than AMHS… for obvious reasons alluding to the point hidden in A Johnson’s word salad above. Its about who’s ox gets gored.
There will be infinite money for the bush and the teacher’s union.
Noticing: You’re obviously not. There isn’t “infinite” funding available.
This issue is about proper allocation of a finite and diminishing resource—our state revenues.
We’ve over spent and under saved for years.
When we’ll halt this ruinous practice is a question worth considering.
Except the best government doesn’t keep a savings account of significance. It collects taxes, fees and royalties enough to balance its budget which should be pre-formulated to match said revenues. A savings account of significance indicates a government overstepping our founder’s intentions.
How much of the PFD are you going to use this time LIAR?
And a thief as the PFD is the people not the state or politicians.
We need a simple vote to cut the state budget, or steal peoples money with a full open view of state spending, waste and greasing of the wheels of businesses.
Curious? Will the new PFD directors raise be included? $425K per year? How about getting rid of that position and a few more so Alaskans can get their full PFD? His alone would cover $1000 for over 400,000 Alaskans!
Big government is the problem and state workers working from home is a joke!
Your arithmetic is off by a factor of 1,000, if I understood your statement. Salaries similar to that of the PFD are spread throughout government including the gas line fellow, the Treasury’s chief investment fellow, the top job at Alaska Housing, etc. etc. There are unionized people making $200,000 in some parts of state government. I would guess there are truck drivers making six figures, (and the trucks have automatic transmissions). The answer for Alaskans is to do more for ourselves, and to demand less and smaller government. Otherwise the incoming House and Senate majorities (Democrats organized by Republicans!) will enact a more expensive public employee retirement system in order to compel a state income tax so that everyone not on welfare and not working for government will have to leave.
Interestingly, our first PFD was $1,000, and to have the equivalent dollar amount today the 2025 PFD would need to be about $8,500.
The average cost of the 67 employees of the Permanent Fund Corp is over $320k per employee.
Keep AKNDAN away from the evaluation process. Sure, targeted reduction of the budget is warranted but it has to be completed by someone who can complete simple arithmetic.
I’ve said it for years, that every department of the state need to do an audit and focus on the hours needed to complete the work.
This is exactly what the D.O.G.E. is going to do, at the national level.
The Republicans that are crossing over need to get back to right side of the table, since we have the numbers to control.
Mike’s not looking good. Has that Lincoln look after the war. Hope he does better after he steps down.
Vax?
Is our governor OK? He looks a little gaunt around the cheeks and neck.
I was thinking that exactly, looks like the covid shot stare. I’ve got a friend who got those shots and in three years he’s had a heart attack, cancer and a stroke. The science coming in on the effects of those shots shows that the pandemic is the shots.
Bad science. Millions died because of covid.
For once Greg and I are in total agreement on covid, millions died because of covid!
Ozempic gaunt.
Guv needs to start eating more of Vern’s high protein noodles. It sorta works on parts of Lisa, excluding the posterior, which Greg already knows.
😅
Being sick of this never-ending game of cat-and mouse, let me save you all some time by giving you the spoiler.
1) Dunleavy will propose a big PFD, a big budget, and a big deficit.
2) The Legislature will pare down the PFD to around $1000, in order to eliminate some of the budget cuts and to reduce the deficit. They will also draw more funds out of the reserves to help.
3) People will b*tch and moan that their PFDs are being robbed. They will then go out and buy the latest big screen TVs.
4) All will be forgotten until next October, when the same cycle repeats itself, as it will ad infinitum.
Please Alaskan’s get your financial s**t together, as we are all becoming bored by this tedium.
Whidbey’s observation regarding the behavioral pattern seemingly baked into the budget process has validity.
At some point in the not too distant future reality would intrude on the fantasy that governs Alaska.
We’ve spent too much for results that are not particularly good for years, even as we saved too little.
The party’s almost over up here in the Lost Frontier.
The big question facing the electorate in the next two years is which adult should we elect as Governor to put in charge of the wreckage?
It won’t be you, Joey.
Concur.
I’m backing an adult.
Tiffany, do you have a potential candidate or are you just a cheap shot fooling around in a civic forum are you going to participant in politics in a measured manner?
Unlike you, Joe, I only on limited occasions have any reason to comment or opine on everyone else’s comments. I vote. And I always measure my good manners like an adult lady.
Another anonymous comment that avoids genuine analysis.
Find another hobby if you are incapable of engaging in a genuine political discussion.
Tiffany, as to whether your manners are always measured, your opinion is not the relevant factor. Rather, what matters is the opinions of those you interact with. Your first comment above lacks manners. Before replying, take note, I do not contend my manners are properly measured.
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