By Dave Trabert As Alaska legislators ponder resolutions to the state’s budget challenges, there’s a lot to be learned from Kansas’ efforts to balance budgets under Governor Sam Brownback. Here’s the big lesson: […]
A Civil Emergency in Anchorage?
On July 24, Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz announced a civil emergency in the city. This is only the second time in Anchorage history that a civil emergency has been declared. What’s the reason? Budget cuts. […]
University of Alaska Expenditures on Staff
In February, Governor Michael Dunleavy proposed an operating budget which reflected $134 million less in state funding for the University of Alaska. His budget was not used as the basis for the appropriations […]
Spending Within Our Means
The following op-ed by Ann Brown, Vice President of the Alaska Policy Forum, was published in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and the Peninsula Clarion. While it is not unusual for political adversaries to […]
Unsustainable Spending: The State of Alaska’s Budget and Economy
Alaska Policy Forum is proud to have partnered with economic experts at The Buckeye Institute and its Economic Research Center to release our latest policy paper: a study of Alaska’s budget, economy and […]
Is Alaska’s Government Workforce Cost Efficient?
The following op-ed by Bob Griffin, a Board Member of the Alaska Policy Forum, was originally published in the Anchorage Daily News on December 6, 2018. The idea of slow-moving government employees working […]
Preserving Economic Opportunity for Medicaid Recipients
Care for the needy and assistance to those down on their luck are hallmarks of Americans across the country. Our concern for the vulnerable among us is evident in statistics which regularly place […]
Compensation Costs for Executive Branch Exempt Employees
In light of the recent brouhaha regarding State of Alaska Executive Branch exempt employees, we are making available the following list with names and the associated costs to the state of compensating all […]
Right-Sizing Alaska’s State Government Workforce Part II
Earlier this year, we commissioned and published a report by Key Policy Data (KPD) providing an analysis of how much Alaska pays for its public employees, comparing their compensation to their private sector […]
Have an extra $45,689?
Do you have an extra $45,689 for you and every member of your family (including kids)? That’s your share of the shortfall in Alaska’s unfunded public pensions. Alaskan Win Gruening writes in MustRead […]
The Education Miracle Multiplier, Changing $100 into $869
How would you like to get $100 for each family member and find out that it’s really $869 for each member? Well, that’s what happens in one school district when the Alaska Education […]
412 Anchorage City Employees Cost More than the Mayor in 2017
True to one of our guiding principles that government should be limited and as transparent as possible, we are providing the most recent annual payroll for the Municipality of Anchorage. We believe it […]
Education Funding in Alaska
The below response was submitted to the Anchorage Daily News on March 6, 2018 but they have refused to publish it. What a shame that they are not willing to engage in the […]
Right-Sizing Alaska’s State Government Workforce
A few weeks ago the Alaska Policy Forum highlighted an analysis from Key Policy Data, a national data visualization firm. The analysis found that in 2016 Alaska had the second-least productive state and […]
Will Alaska be Swallowed by Health Care Costs?
Some good questions were asked this week by state legislators about Alaska’s ballooning health care budget. On Wednesday, January 19 in the Senate Finance Committee meeting, Governor Walker’s Director of the Office of […]
Alaska’s Budget Deficit: Have we really cut enough?
In a large statewide poll conducted by Hellenthal and Associates in the spring of 2017, Alaskan voters agreed with the following statement by a two-to-one margin: “The state budget needs to be drastically […]