Possible Ferry Cancellations - Alaska
If you have a reservation for an Alaska Ferry for this summer, you might want to read this: http://www.ktoo.org/2015/04/10/travelers-not-told-ferries-may-canceled/
Forum Discussion
The bottom line is that revenues for the State of Alaska continue to fall. Since the oil started flowing from the North Slope to Valdez, in the early 70s, the government of Alaska has been spending money like a bunch of drunken sailors. The money is running out and hard decisions have to be made, school funds look like they will be cut back along with all other divisions.
There have been a couple of bills introduced to start taxing Alaska residents, with an income tax and an excise tax. I can almost hear the screams over that idea. LOL I haven't spent much time with the full budget as it is floating around the halls in Juneau but it appears they are planning to dip into the reserve funds, not a good long range plan in my opinion. Interest earned on the reserve funds is a large part of the revenues the State earns each year, so to spend off some of the reserves doesn't seem smart to me, but they didn't ask me. LOL
There have been several new expenditures proposed by the administration that will add new costs.
Alaska tends to be a bit strange politically.. Most all revenues come from the rural areas of the state, fishing, timber, oil and mining, but the majority of Alaska residents live in the Anchorage Bowl area, so the political power resides in the Anchorage Bowl. Sort of a reverse Robin Hood arrangement So are the political powers in Anchorage going to be too worried about the SE tourist businesses, you can guess the answer about that, I bet. Most of the tourist businesses are not Alaska owned, including the cruise ships.
There have been a couple of bills introduced to start taxing Alaska residents, with an income tax and an excise tax. I can almost hear the screams over that idea. LOL I haven't spent much time with the full budget as it is floating around the halls in Juneau but it appears they are planning to dip into the reserve funds, not a good long range plan in my opinion. Interest earned on the reserve funds is a large part of the revenues the State earns each year, so to spend off some of the reserves doesn't seem smart to me, but they didn't ask me. LOL
There have been several new expenditures proposed by the administration that will add new costs.
Alaska tends to be a bit strange politically.. Most all revenues come from the rural areas of the state, fishing, timber, oil and mining, but the majority of Alaska residents live in the Anchorage Bowl area, so the political power resides in the Anchorage Bowl. Sort of a reverse Robin Hood arrangement So are the political powers in Anchorage going to be too worried about the SE tourist businesses, you can guess the answer about that, I bet. Most of the tourist businesses are not Alaska owned, including the cruise ships.
