FALL CLASSES WILL MOVE TO ANCHORAGE SCHOOL DISTRICT BUILDINGS
The University of Alaska Anchorage’s Chugiak-Eagle River campus is on the short list for closures as the university system as a whole faces a 17 percent cut to its overall budget.
UAA Chancellor Cathy Sandeen said in a notice today at the UAA website that the lease won’t be renewed for fall classes, although spring and summer classes will continue. In the fall, the university will turn to Anchorage School District facilities in Eagle River, she said.
“UAA is committed to maintaining a presence in Eagle River, however, we have decided not to renew the lease on the existing Chugiak-Eagle River Campus building. Spring and summer classes will continue as planned in the building, but beginning in fall 2019 UAA will offer classes in available Anchorage School District facilities in Eagle River.
“Understandably, you may be concerned about what the course offerings will be and where those classes will occur. We are working through the details of this change and will share updates with you as we have them.
“We appreciate your understanding and look forward to a smooth transition,” she wrote.
Last month, Sandeen gave a speech to the Chugiak-Eagle River Chamber of Commerce, in which she said the university would maintain its presence in the district, but she didn’t commit to the actual building.
Gov. Michael Dunleavy has taken a new tone on Twitter, an indication he’s taken over the messaging platform from his more circumspect communication team and is now sending out the messages himself, sometimes with capital letters, and now with the hashtag #DoYourResearch to what is known to be the true liberal hangout of social media platforms. Who knew Dunleavy could tweet like a Trump?
The discussion took off from there…
Not to be outdone, House Speaker Bryce Edgmon sent his pointed message directly to the governor on Twitter today:
And finally, the House Republican Minority managed to get a word in edgewise this afternoon, telling everyone they look forward to working with the House Democrats as soon as they finish playing with last year’s budget.
ACTION ALERT SENT BY AGENCY SAYS ‘MORE FAMILIES WILL BE HOMELESS’
Catholic Social Services has sent a letter out asking the members of the faith to oppose the budget cuts of Gov. Michael Dunleavy.
The letter from Lisa Aquino, executive director, proposes no solutions to the lack of funding, but simply objections to budget cuts that she describes as ‘devastating’ and that will lead to more homelessness.
Over the past five years at Catholic Social Services, we have been strengthening and fortifying our services for vulnerable people in Anchorage, particularly families and individuals who experience homelessness. We have made these changes out of necessity.
It all began when we noticed a change in our homeless population. Many were older, and more seemed to be struggling with untreated behavioral health challenges. We realized we had to modify our services to better address these problems.
So we expanded our programs that focus on transitioning clients to permanent stability in housing, income and social wellbeing. We increased our hours to create flexibility for our clients so they could meet with caseworkers without altering their job schedules, training programs or medically necessary appointments. We also added staff at Brother Francis Shelter and Clare House to assure safety for both our clients and employees.
These changes have resulted in thousands of changed lives. For instance, just since July 2018, we have housed over 200 families. Our housing model is an evidence-based model called Critical Time Intervention, and already in some of our housing programs we are seeing more than 80 percent of our clients remain in their new homes more than a year after being housed, despite their having often experienced a lifetime of trauma andchallenges. These results derive from a strong model, clients’ hard work and caseworkers’ support. They arealso a testimony to the impact of this work in Anchorage.
To do this work, Catholic Social Services receives nearly equal parts of our funds from grants, fees for service and donations from you in our community. All three components are critical. As an agency, we are committed to spending every dollar in ways that maximize serving our clients and providing the most we can to them, even while running very close to the margin. For this reason, when an unexpected loss comes, there are noeasy answers. Right now, we’re grappling with the possible loss of state grants for services related tohomelessness, due to the proposed changes in Alaska’s budget.
Investment in services, like case management for people experiencing homelessness and frontline services at Brother Francis Shelter and Clare House, make a difference in the lives of those we serve as well as in our community. Those 200-plus families who are now housed — and weren’t less than a year ago — can hold jobs, buy their own food and better support their family. Because of our programs, like Homeless Family Services, fewer people are standing on our street corners, needing help because of difficult life challenges, and struggling to keep their kids in school. Instead, they are working and contributing to Anchorage. That was not possible when they were homeless. The services that we and our partners provided supported these people as they moved to permanent stability.
Those who govern are being faced with challenging choices. They are all in my thoughts and prayers. I know they must consider numerous factors, and I hope that they consider both the return on their investment when homelessness is eradicated and the value of caring for the most vulnerable in our state — the sick, the elderly and the children — through a most difficult time.
The impacts of the proposed FY20 Alaska State budget cuts will be devasting. Some of the most vulnerable people in Alaska will lose homeless services. More families will be homeless. More people, including children, will live on the street. Lives will be lost.
Catholic Social Services provides homeless and shelter services to more than 3,000 men, women, and children each year. Catholic Social Services rebuilds lives by providing pathways to permanent stability for adults and children experiencing homelessness and poverty.
Clare House and Brother Francis Shelter are the two largest shelters in Alaska. They provide services to people in need 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Homeless Family Services provides housing case management to people experiencing homelessness citywide. They are the critical link to permanent stability. Caseworkers help move people out of homelessness and into permanent stability.
The proposed cuts to the Basic Homeless Assistance Program (BHAP), Human Services Community Matching Grant (HSCMG), and Special Needs Housing Grant (SNHG) will force Catholic Social Services and other homeless service providers to drastically reduce or stop offering services.
Proposed Fiscal Year 2020 Alaska State Budget Impact on CSS Programs and Budget
Grant Funds Cut in Proposed Budget
Percentage of Total Program Budget Reduced by Budget Cuts
Clare House
$199,531
22%
Brother Francis Shelter
$269,844
13%
Homeless Family Services
$903,896
27%
Catholic Social Services – Overall
$1,373,272
11%
The proposed cuts eliminate day-shelter for women and children at Clare House and force Brother Francis Shelter to cap the number served every night at 100, instead of 240. The reduction means families with children outside on the streets all day and 140 adults who had been sheltered now being forced to sleep outside, adding to the nearly 100 who already are unsheltered in Anchorage.
The proposed cuts to Homeless Family Services reduce services to 193 households, causing them to potentially fall back into homelessness, and prevent more than 132 households from becoming homed. Progress addressing the homeless community’s needs will stall and reverse.
The proposed cuts will ultimately cost state and municipal governments more money, but you can make sure they don’t happen. Send a message to your legislators and Governor Dunleavy to restore BHAP to FY19 funding ($8 million), SNHG to FY19 funding ($1.75 million), and HSCMG to FY19 funding ($1.38 million, leveraged by a 30% match by municipalities).
The Department of Transportation extended the deadline for a “request for proposal” to come up with options for the Alaska Marine Highway System.
The original deadline of March 11 brought only one respondent, but other entities said they would respond if the timeline was more than the 10-day window they were given. The new deadline is April 2.
The winner of the RFP will provide a detailed report by Oct. 15 recommending changes to the Alaska Marine Highway System — privatizing, selling it off, or “identify potential reduction of the state’s financial obligation and/or liability as related to the AMHS.”
The state’s fare structure for the ferries currently only recovers 35 percent of the cost of running the service. Low passenger and vehicle ridership has made the AMHS an increasingly expensive system to operate, with the state subsidizing per-passenger trips at $4.78 per mile.
The Alaska Marine Highway System could keep the ferries afloat by charging passengers the actual cost of running them.
The governor’s budget, which cut ferry spending by 75 percent, has brought howls of protests from coastal communities, and prompted Rep. Louise Stutes to have the House Majority press office produce a Facebook video that romanticizes the ferry-bound lifestyle.
The video, paid for with State funds, includes wistful music, footage of disabled ferry passengers, and an up-close vignette of a child who is crying about the loss of the ferry system. A voice asks, “It is so easy to take away from us. Why?”
The House Finance Committee’s schedule for public hearings in communities outside of Juneau were announced earlier this week.
“While the committee typically holds public input hearings in the Alaska State Capitol in Juneau, the proposals contained in the governor’s budget this year would fundamentally change life for many Alaskans: everything from the university and K-12 schools to the Alaska Marine Highway System and Pioneer Homes are slated for deep cuts under Governor Mike Dunleavy’s proposal,” the House Democrat-led coalition stated in a press release.
“Given the historic nature of the decisions before policymakers and the fact that our savings accounts have been spent down, the committee is going above and beyond to listen directly to Alaskans. The hearings are the first of their kind in Alaska’s history.”
Rep. Ben Carpenter, Nikiski
Rep. Ben Carpenter of Nikiski used that Majority statement as a launching pad to promote moving the Legislature altogether:
“Our state has invested a significant amount of resources into top-of-the-line teleconferencing equipment to allow people around Alaska to participate in the legislative process,” said Carpenter. “Rather than add my name to the long list of legislators traveling to these events at the taxpayers’ expense, I’ll be participating via our state’s teleconferencing system.”
He noted that the House Finance Committee announced their series of meetings in stages, after hearing the plans of the governor’s plans to hold community conversations around the state. The governor has a packed schedule of public meetings, radio shows, and other appearances that began on Wednesday in Juneau.
“While I disagree with the amount of public money being spent to promote political agendas ahead of the governor’s events, Speaker Edgmon and the Majority do appear to have recognized the impracticality of Juneau for most legislative meetings,” Carpenter said in his statement to the press. “If this is the Majority’s attempt to start moving the legislature to the road system, I’ll consider it money well spent.”
Carpenter also mentioned the pending ballot initiative, “Equal Access Alaska”, which aims at moving the legislature to the road system. That initiative awaits approval by the lieutenant governor to move forward to the signature-gathering stage.
“I’ll be supporting the pending initiative, should it be approved by the Lieutenant Governor, and I’m glad to know that so many of my colleagues are ready to support moving legislative business to the road system. The people have been denied access to the public process for too long,” Carpenter said.
The House Majority advertised its Anchorage hearing by noting the “PROPOSED BUDGET WOULD CHANGE LIFE IN ALASKA.”
HOUSE HEARING SCHEDULE
The schedule of the public hearings by the House Finance Committee are as follows:
JUNEAU: Friday, March 22 from 5-8 p.m. in Room 519 of the Alaska State Capitol, 120 4th Street, Juneau
KETCHIKAN: Saturday, March 23 from 12-3 p.m. in Ted Ferry Civic Center, 888 Venentia Avenue, Ketchikan
MAT-SU: Saturday, March 23 from 12-4 p.m. at the Mat-Su LIO, 600 E. Railroad Avenue, Wasilla
BETHEL: Saturday, March 23 from 2-5 p.m. at the Yupiit Piciryarait Cultural Center, 401 Chief Eddie Hoffman Highway, Bethel
KENAI: Saturday, March 23 from 5:30-8:30 p.m. at Soldotna Sports Center, 538 Arena Avenue, Soldotna
ANCHORAGE: Sunday, March 24 from 2-5 p.m. at the Anchorage LIO, 1500 W. Benson Boulevard, Anchorage
SITKA: Sunday, March 24 from 2-5 p.m. at Centennial Hall Assembly Chambers, 330 Harbor Drive, Sitka
FAIRBANKS: Sunday, March 24 from 2-5 p.m. at the Fairbanks LIO, 1292 Sadler Way, Suite 308, Fairbanks
Gov. Michael Dunleavy filled four judgeships for Alaska Superior and District Courts in Utqiagvik, Kodiak, Anchorage, and Palmer.
But when it came to a second judge for the Palmer Superior Court, Dunleavy took a pass.
The Alaska Judicial Council had only given him three names for two seats in Palmer. Dunleavy thought that odd, since 11 people had applied for the Palmer Superior Court. With just three candidates for two positions, the Judicial Council was appearing to try to force the governor’s hand for this court, and it appeared to violate the spirit of the law.
The council had, after all, offered 8 names for the one Anchorage seat.
“Alaska’s constitutional judicial selection process is supposed to be merit and qualifications based. The list you provided me does not appear to uphold this important standard,” Dunleavy wrote in a letter to the Judicial Council.
“My authority to appoint members to the bench carries with it the obligation to exercise that authority thoughtfully and responsibly. My office has requested more information from the Council on candidates that were not recommended, including the Council’s reasoning for excluding some candidates,” Dunleavy wrote. “I would like an opportunity to review and consider the Council’s reasoning to determine whether additional qualified candidates could be nominated by the Council for this position.”
John C. Cagle is appointed to the Palmer Superior Court. Cagle has been an Alaska resident for 8½ years and has practiced law for 14 years. He graduated from Gonzaga University School of Law in 2003 and is currently an assistant district attorney in Anchorage.
Nelson Traverso is appointed to the Utqiagvik Superior Court. Traverso has been an Alaska resident for 36 years and has practiced law for 35 years. He graduated from Northeastern University School of Law in 1981 and is currently in private practice in Fairbanks.
Stephen B. Wallace is appointed to Kodiak Superior Court. Wallace has been an Alaska resident for 36 years and has practiced law for 29 ½ years. He graduated from the University of Oregon School of Law in 1988 and is currently the district attorney in Bethel.
David Nesbett is appointed to the Anchorage District Court. Nesbett has been an Alaska resident for 47 years and has practiced law for 20 years. He graduated from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, in 1998, and is currently in private practice in Anchorage. Nesbett is a third-generation Alaskan whose grandfather, Buell Nesbett, was the first Alaska Supreme Court Justice; the state courthouse on 4th Street in Anchorage bears his name.
The Anchorage Assembly this week approved a 1.3 percent property tax increase that will bring the Municipality another $3.3 million to fund the growing Anchorage School District budget.
It’s an increase that city fathers say taxpayers will hardly notice.
The Assembly also approved spending $885 million on the school district’s operating budget, a 13 percent increase over last year.
The associated mill rate for schools will hit 7.15, a 3.5 percent increase over the current rate. For comparison, the school portion of the mill rate was 6.79 in 2007. By 2017, it had crept up to 6.92.
Overall, the current mill rate for Anchorage real properties is about 16.4, for all local government and school services.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO YOU?
According to Realtor Connie Yoshimura, the tax on a $350,000 home in Anchorage is $5,740 while a $500,000 home owes $8,200 to the Muni, excluding any exemptions entitled to the Anchorage property owner.
The increased school tax will add between $74 and $107 to the property taxes of homes in this valuation range.
The school district’s final budget won’t be final until after the State budget is signed, which is expected before the beginning of the State’s fiscal year beginning July 1.
Anchorage schools are primarily funded through the State of Alaska “foundation funding formula” and local property taxes. Federal revenue come from Federal Impact Aid and reimbursements for JRTOTC instructors, and Medicaid. A small amount of revenue is generated by things like facility rentals.
However, Gov. Michael Dunleavy has proposed pulling back the state’s reimbursement of local school construction bonds, which now reimburses locally approved projects.
That would leave those due payments on bonds to Anchorage property taxpayers, and could cost them an average of $430 per homeowner.
The Anchorage School District budget is predicated on assumptions that there will be no change to the state’s base student allocation, which is $5,930 per student, or foundation funding formula. The district was also counting on an additional $8.4 million that was in House Bill 287, passed in by the 2018 Legislature, which gave extra funding outside the foundation formula. The district assumes there will be no decrease in the State’s debt reimbursement.
Meanwhile, Anchorage voters are facing another tax increase in a ballot proposition in the current municipal ballot, which would have voters approve another $59.1 million in capital spending for schools. A homeowner with a $300,000 valuation would pay an additional $40 a year in property taxes if this bond passes. Ballots are due in by April 2.
The school district has gone from having 48,707 students in 2007, to 46,949 in 2018, a decrease of 3.61 percent over 11 years. Administrators predict a loss of another 580 students in the fall of 2019.
Also, in the 2007-2008 school year, the district received 65.39 percent of its budget from the State of Alaska; now it’s receiving 58 percent of its funding from the State. As spending has increased, the state portion has become a smaller portion of overall spending, which is being picked up by local taxpayers.
The school district is expecting to reduce the number of teachers and staff allocated for the coming year, including a reduction of 46 full time equivalent (FTE) elementary school teachers. The middle school teacher allocation is being reduced by 13.8 FTE, an average of 1.4 FTE per school. High school teacher allocation is being reduced by 19.1 FTE, an average of 2.4 per school due to lower anticipated enrollment next year.
Watching a Seattle television station’s take on homelessness in the Emerald City is shocking and makes us wonder about Anchorage’s future.
The latest in KOMO-TV’s raw, gritty trilogy on homelessness and addiction in the city – “Seattle is Dying” – is sometimes stunning, sometimes sad, sometimes infuriating.
The city is losing its battle with homelessness despite more than a billion dollars being spent on the problem in the Puget Sound area. The more Seattle spends, the worse its problem becomes.
We wonder how Anchorage would fare if a local television station – and we are not holding our breath – invested the time and money to honestly detail and document our city’s homeless problem. That report likely would be stunning, sad and infuriating, too.
From where we sit, in Seattle and Anchorage – and other cities, as well – the old adage certainly is true: If you want more of something, subsidize it.
In Anchorage, the Assembly and Mayor Ethan Berkowitz are hawking Proposition 9, a 5 percent retail alcohol tax they managed to place on the April 2 ballot, along with a charter change to allow its adoption with less than the normally required 60 percent supermajority vote.
A bill that would allow Alaskans to contribute their Permanent Fund dividends to the state budget has been resurrected.
SB 92, sponsored by Sens. David Wilson of Wasilla, would have the Department of Revenue add a provision allowing Alaskans who receive dividends to contribute some or all of their dividends to the state, just as they do for nonprofit organizations through Pick, Click, Give.
Last year, the Senate passed a similar bill, SB 154, on a unanimous vote. It was referred to the House, where it died in committee.
This time, SB 92 has two other Senate sponsors: Scott Kawasaki and Elvi Gray-Jackson. Kawasaki has sponsored the similar bill on the House side last year after it passed the Senate.
“Many Alaskans have told me they wouldn’t mind giving up a portion of their dividends to pay for state government,” said Sen. Wilson. “This bill creates a simple mechanism for them to do so. If you want to donate your dividend, that’s your choice. If you want to keep your dividend, you’re free to do so. Senate Bill 92 is about the freedom to make your own decision.”
Participants could contribute $25, $50, $75, $100, or more, in increments of $50, up the total amount of their dividend.
PFD donations are subject to a 7 percent administrative fee paid to the Permanent Fund Dividend Division.
Currently, PFD applicants can donate directly to the state’s Crime Victim Compensation Fund, the Peace Officer and Firefighter Survivors’ Fund, or one or more of the educational organizations, community foundations, or charitable organizations that appear on the contribution list contained in the PFD application. This bill would add the state’s general fund to that list.
SB 92 was referred to the Senate State Affairs Committee and the Senate Finance Committee.
Sen. Mike Shower of Wasilla applauded the bill:
“Based on the averages we’ve seen during testimony and then extrapolating with the well over 600,000 who qualify for a dividend, I’d expect about 150,000 people, or more, to take advantage of this opportunity. Using the statutory formula and a $3,000 dividend I would expect to see a $450 to $500 million bump into the general fund next year as everyone who says they prefer the dividend to go to the state honors their word,” he wrote.
