Idea of cutting costs still escapes the bureaucracy

To the editor,

Please take a little time to review the budget, number of employees and population for Alaska and California.

California’s financial troubles are well known, but when you do the comparison, Alaska’s situation is embarrassing.

In 2014, California had about 452,000 employees servicing a population of about 39 million and a budget of $252 billion. Alaska in 2014 had about 16,000 employees, about 735,000 people, and a budget of $12 billion.

California had one employee for every 85 residents, spent $557,000 per employee and $6,494 per person. And they were in trouble.

Meanwhile, Alaska in 2014 had one employee per 45 residents, spent $750,000 per employee and $16,325 per person. Almost twice as many employees per resident, a third more cost per employee, and two and a half times the expenditure per person!

And the Governor wants to implement personal income tax, raise other taxes and discontinue the PFD?

What is it about cutting costs that our bloated bureaucracy doesn’t understand?

Randy Kilbourn

Talkeetna

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