Anchorage Daily Planet
Full editorial here…. Posted: 10 Jan 2016 01:27 AM PST
By
Tom Brennan
This will be a year of great testing for Alaska’s political leaders.
If this state is going to dig its way out of the financial hole in which it finds itself, some incredibly important legislation must be passed and made law, legislation that will be unpalatable to many voters. And that electoral fete will have to be accomplished in an election year.
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Did you see our commentary yesterday: Gasline/LNG Project State Ownership Gamble, Greed Not Need? Mr. Brennan is right; it will be a, "great year of testing." But what is the test? To us the question is whether today's adults decide to make mature and wise decisions that contribute to a sustainable budget and economy, or whether decision makers will kick the fiscal can down the field for their kids to deal with. That would be intergenerational inequity. In yesterday's commentary we also pointed out what a gamble of public funds it is to purchase equity in an energy project. That is also a circumstance wherein today's adults will risk savings account money — along with their kids' future on a high stakes game of chance. Since a number of legislators now serving plan to retire soon as public employee pensioners, they leave the potential of a financial risk gone wrong to their children…along with other fiscal dangers…while not hesitating to collect a retirement check during the trying years before us. (Their retirement check, of course, also depends on the health of the PERS/TERS retirement account, whose unfunded liability approaching $10 billion threatens the future of the program. Ironically, some of these have freely admitted in public that they should have done much more to control government growth. But that is water under the bridge, at this point, and we at least appreciate their honesty. The question now is whether, this year, those who had a hand in creating the current budget crisis through inability to control spending will now cut spending before transferring the weight of the financial crisis to citizens via new or increased taxes. From our viewpoint, then, the reason Mr. Brennan is right that this will be a year of great testing is that lawmakers and the Governor will be making a decision affecting the prosperity of their children. Will they bite the bullet and pass the test by successfully and courageously reforming the state budget during this legislative session. Or, will cosmetic changes be adopted as teams of elected officials attempt to shift blame while effectively kicking the can down the field, again this year, toward the goal post of the next generation? -dh |
…leaders will somehow have to convince voters that the state needs to slash state spending, bring back an income tax (and perhaps also pass a sales tax) and dip into the earnings reserve account of the Alaska Permanent Fund.
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A few things are happening to improve the financial picture. Gov. Bill Walker’s hiring freeze and crackdown on state employee travel was a good one. He should have done it long ago, but even now it’s not too late.
Next, the Legislature needs to do something similar. Some of the travel by members of the House and Senate is ridiculous. Some of their members are in the million-mile airline award class, with legislators frequently hopping onto international flights at state expense to make brief appearances at conclaves of limited value to Alaska.
The Legislature should also cut way back on the number of aides each member has on payroll. The numbers vary from one post to another, but each legislator has at least a few and some have more. At times like these, most legislators should be limited to one aide and only those in top leadership positions, where there is a proven need to meet the demands of the position and constituents, should have more.
Everyone hates the thought of cutting the education budget. That has the ring of killing the puppies at midnight. But with tight money Alaska should be ….
State Senate President Kevin Meyer has already raised the possibility of a statewide sales tax. Meyer said this week that “in light of the taxation legislation package recently submitted by the governor, it seems a statewide sales tax should also be part of the discussion.”
…the international credit rating services are already giving Alaska a poor rating for its failure to address the budget crisis. Poor credit ratings can make borrowing expensive and — with a gas pipeline hopefully on the horizon — Alaska has some large-scale borrowing in its future.
It may be too much to expect that all these problems could be addressed in a single year. But this state’s current leadership …. (Full editorial here….)
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