Conference of Mayors stands ready to partner for the future

Spectrum, by Jim Cooper

Every day we are thankful to be Alaskans. We have the most beautiful place to live in the world, and the best neighbors. We are most proud of the Alaskan tradition of helping each other when times are tough. Think of the 1964 earthquake. Alaskans put Alaska back together by facing the challenge head-on and working side by side.

Today Alaska faces another challenge - because it is not a natural disaster, not enough people have recognized it yet. It is a fiscal disaster and, like an earthquake, it can severely damage our schools, destroy our roads and transportation systems, hurt the economy, reduce the quality of life for many Alaskans, and threaten the safety of our people. Unlike an earthquake, we can avoid the disaster, if we act now.

A fiscal disaster begins very slowly. Every year more teachers are laid off, public infrastructure deteriorates, police and firefighters are laid off in some communities, help to our seniors declines, more rural governments collapse, private sector businesses concerned by the fiscal uncertainty decide not to invest in Alaska, and so on. Unfortunately, Alaska has spent most of its available financial reserves. If the price of oil drops, as it has many times in the past, Alaska is immediately at the brink of disaster. As Alaskans we must insist that Alaska is prepared to meet that challenge.

Alaska's communities have always been the "sleeping giant" of Alaskan politics. Now, many large and small communities are in pain, and, according to surveys of local leaders, many communities face closure as a result of current budget cuts. They are losing money, losing population, and losing hope. Caught between state cuts, cost shifts, and local economic downturns, many communities have no place to turn except burdensome increases in local taxes and/or deep cuts to local services as basic as police, maintenance, and schools. In every single year since 1994 the Alaska Conference of Mayors and the Alaska Municipal League have placed development of a long-range fiscal plan as a top priority for the legislature, and offered suggestions and help. Last week, the Alaska Conference of Mayors unanimously adopted a resolution that is a stronger "wake up call" from the communities of Alaska to legislators who are not actively engaged in helping develop a solution. We recognize that many legislators, past and present, have worked hard to "do the right thing" for the future of Alaska. However, after ten years, the legislature as a body has not showed Alaskans how key public services such as roads, schools, public safety, and fixing the state's backlog of deferred maintenance will be continued at an adequate level after Alaska's reserves run out, without transferring the burden to communities and local taxpayers.

What should we Alaskans do? A bipartisan and representative group of Alaskans is considering how Alaska manages and uses the massive earnings of the Permanent Fund as well as discussing other potential solutions. The Alaska Municipal League and the Alaska Conference of Mayors urge Alaskans to listen with open minds.

For example, the Permanent Fund was originally designed to help Alaska as oil revenue diminished. According to the Permanent Fund Corporation, the annual earnings alone can almost guarantee PFDs starting at $1,000 every year and growing over time, and inflation-proof the Fund, and provide revenue for schools and local services greater than the revenue from both a proposed state income tax and a state sales tax together. A "Community Dividend" proposed by former Governor Hickel could be a way to ensure continued local control of the Permanent Fund. That doesn't mean the discussion ends with the Permanent Fund, but it does mean Alaska has the tools and options necessary to ensure good schools, excellent transportation and utilities, adequate public safety and public health for all Alaskans. We just need to put aside past differences and stand shoulder to shoulder again as Alaskans have many times. Currently there is not a sustainable State fiscal framework. A fiscal framework consists of revenues and expenses. Cost cutting alone has dire consequences. The need to look to the revenue side is imperative; not only oil and gas revenue, but some use of the annual earnings of the Permanent fund as well as other reasonable taxes and fees that do not conflict with municipal government revenues such as the local sales tax. The leaders of Alaska's local governments stand ready to lock arms with the people of Alaska, the Legislature, and the Governor to hammer out a solution to avoid a fiscal disaster and make the great land we love even greater. We also recognize the need to shoulder our part of the responsibility for openly and clearly talking to citizens about Alaska's future, community by community. Alaskans must also hold the Legislature accountable for it success or failure to address this issue this year.

The Alaska Conference of Mayors and Alaska Municipal League fiscal plan recommendations are available at www.akml.org under "2004 Legislative Priorities" and "2004 Policy Statement and Resolutions."

Jim Cooper is the mayor of Palmer.