click here for the full story!
By Tom Brennan |
It’s easy to think that our legislators are blowing smoke about Alaska’s budget problem, but actually they are just being careful.
There is plenty of money available to deal with this year’s budget crunch, even if they are dragging their feet on reducing state spending. Things are moving slowly because decisions could be made this year — if the decisions go the wrong way — that would mess up Alaska’s future.
From afar, and Anchorage is a far piece from Juneau in more ways than one, it appears that the Legislature is hesitant to dip into the Earnings Reserve Account, which was set up for that purpose. Actually, I’m told, both the House and the Senate are agreed that it’s time to tap the Earnings Reserve. The devil is in the details.