The state has reached a settlement over its problem-plagued Medicaid payment system, agreeing to pay the vendor hired to implement the system $25.9 million it is owed, provided certain terms are met.
State health department spokeswoman Sarana Schell says the department received thousands of hours of work it won’t have to pay for and says the vendor, Xerox State Healthcare LLC, assigned new management to the project.
Xerox is to provide $1.5 million in hardware system upgrades, among other things.
Payment of some of the money owed by the state will be linked to the fulfillment of settlement terms or department approval of work.
The state filed an administrative complaint against Xerox in 2014, following the system’s rocky rollout. In an interview last month, deputy health commissioner Jon Sherwood said the system has improved.
The state has spent about $112 million on the system so far.
A satellite view of Western Alaska and the Bering Strait, taken Feb. 4, 2014. (Photo: NASA)
These are the days when a president turns to thoughts of legacy. As the months tick down on this Administration, President Obama has created a marine national monument off new England and last month vastly expanded one near Hawaii. Alaska interest groups are working to get his attention, too. Some want him to take bold action in the 49th State before he leaves office, and others are urging him to resist those calls.
A TV ad ran in Washington, D.C. this month that flashed footage of oil tankers bathed in the golden light of a Valdez sunset, an offshore drill rig, and Alaska Natives on the tundra.
Its call to action: “Tell the White House to keep the Arctic in the next off shore leasing program. It’s the right thing for Alaska. It’s the right for our nation.”
That’s part of a six-figure ad campaign by a coalition that includes the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, unions, and the Independent Petroleum Association of America. They took out a full page ad in the Washington Post, too.
Meanwhile, environmental groups are working just as hard to make sure President Obama knows how much they want the Arctic ocean tracts removed from the off-shore leasing plan, due out this fall. That’s one way the president might choose to leave his mark on the 49th state. Or he could do something really dramatic, like use his powers under the Antiquities Act to declare a national monument in Alaska, or off its shores. Sen. Lisa Murkowski is dreads a White House announcement like that, which she believes would diminish Alaska’s opportunities.
“We’ve seen some indication that he doesn’t plan on any ocean protection designation,” she said. “But until we’re on the last day of the administration, I’m not going to rest and believe that’s the case.”
Some Alaskans, though, ARE hoping Obama will help them preserve their marine environment.
Austin Ahmasuk of Nome is trying to marshal federal and local support for a presidential order about managing the Bering Strait. Ahmasuk is a marine advocate for Kawerak, the Native non-profit for the Bering Strait region. He says locals are especially concerned about increased pollution from ship traffic.
“At each point that our tribes have considered the north Bering Sea and climate change and shipping, we’ve asked – basically pleaded – with the Coast Guard that no discharges occur,” he said.
Ahmasuk says they’re still working an executive order they’d like the president to sign, and still gathering local support, although they started quite a while ago.
“At that time we thought, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s virtually no time with this president.’ This is two years ago,” he said. “And now here we are in 2016 and we think we have, of course, even less time now.”
Another person feeling deadline pressure is Pat Pletnikoff, the mayor of St. George, one of the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea. He does not want a presidential order, but he’d like to see the waters around St. George protected. Pletnikoff says St. George is witnessing some upsetting changes, like the loss of vast bird populations.
Location of St. George, Alaska. (Image: Google)
“You know, we see a lot of seals on our rookeries at St. George Island dead. And they’re dying because they’re probably starving,” he said, adding that they’d need more research to know for sure.
Pletnikoff is wary of opposition from the fishing industry, so he wants to nominate St. George for possible designation as a marine sanctuary. That’s a public process that can take years. Pletnikoff says it would be more transparent.
“We’re not looking to close of lots of areas of sea to non-fishing,” he insists. “What we want to do is start to understand what it is that the fur seal population and the sea bird population require in the way food in order to thrive.”
Though he isn’t asking for an executive order, Pletnikoff has taken his case to the White House, to Obama’s top Arctic advisor. Pletnikoff knows this is a critical time for marine conservation.
“A lot of folks talk about the fact that perhaps the president would like to leave a legacy,” the mayor said, “and they’ve already done that significantly in the Hawaiian area and that there might be some need or desire on the part of the president to do the same thing in Alaska, because he’s the first sitting president to visit north of the Arctic Circle, in Alaska.”
If President Obama is planning to declare any monuments in Alaska, or off Arctic shores, he’s keeping his cards close to his vest. BLM Director Neil Kornze recently told Sen. Murkowski, at a committee hearing, that he does not know of any planned monuments in Alaska. But, he added, he’s not privy to the president’s thoughts. Reporting from Washington
The Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska has a new target date for opening its cultural immersion park at the old Thane Ore House.
Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska Business and Economic Development Manager Myrna Gardner explains the plans for the immersion park. (Photo by Lakeidra Chavis, KTOO – Juneau)
Last year, Central Council officials had hoped it would open this summer. Now, they’re shooting for 2018, after the Juneau Assembly approved a 1.2-acre land lease making it possible Monday evening.
Myrna Gardner is spearheading the Tlingit and Haida Immersion Park project.
She said the Central Council wants to put Juneau’s Native culture at the forefront when cruise passengers visit — literally. The cruise ships must pass the nearly 3-acre waterfront site before they arrive in port.
“When they come to Juneau, you have gifts shops and you have art galleries,” she said. “We want to tie the living culture effect of who we are, with it.”
Gardner said that the park will include classes on totem pole and canoe carving, as well as basic language skills. She said it’s important to remember that Southeast Alaska Native cultures are living cultures.
There will also be a restaurant, gift shop and showcases for Alaska Native artists and dance performances.
“When you think about places you’ve gone or traveled, and you read about the history of people and they talk about them in the past tense, our people have been here for 10,000 years,” Gardner said. “However, today we want people to know that we’re still here and you see it and you get to talk to people in other communities.”
Plans for the park are constantly changing.
Over time, Gardner said they plan to line the road up to the property with totem poles from each of the Southeast tribes. The park will use the two large buildings on the property for cultural activities.
“Our plan is to have a huge Haida style longhouse cover it that shows the Haida heritage side,” she said. This side, we’re going to put a façade of Tlingit longhouses in front of it, so you almost get the image you’re walking through a village.”
Gardner said the estimated $3 million park – plans have expanded since it was pitched as a $1.3 million park last year — will be paid for using a collection of federal grants and Central Council funds. She said while the focus is on culture, the park is intended to create jobs and be a revenue source for the Central Council.
“This is about workforce development and job creation,” Gardner said. “We understand that as a business, as a tribe and as a government, we see from the federal state, especially the state, the budget cuts, and the need for creating jobs and employment within our community.”
As the months tick down on hisadministration, President Obama has created marine monuments in the Northeast and the South Pacific. Alaska interest groups are working to get his attention, too. Some want him to take bold action in the 49th State before he leaves office, and others are urging him to resist the call.
YKHC offering blood tests to patients potentially affected by partially sterilized dental tools
Anna Rose MacArthur, KYUK – Bethel
The Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation is offering blood tests to patients treated at their dental clinic between Sept 13 – 21 after the clinic learned that some instruments were only partially sterilized.
Alaska settles complaint over Medicaid payment system
Associated Press
The state has reached a settlement over its problem-plagued Medicaid payment system, agreeing to pay the vendor hired to implement the system $25.9 million it is owed, provided certain terms are met.
Russian Jack shooting victim dies in hospital, fourth suspect turns himself in
Josh Edge and Wesley Early, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage
The victim of last week’s shooting near Anchorage’s Russian Jack Park has died. Four suspects have been charged.
Downtown Assembly member kneels for pledge
Zachariah Hughes, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage
Citing concerns from constituents over national promises not met, downtown representative Patrick Flynn made a brief symbolic statement during a routine assembly meeting.
With assembly approval, Central Council expands plans for 3-acre Immersion Park
Lakeidra Chavis, KTOO – Juneau
The Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska has a new target date for opening its cultural immersion park at the old Thane Ore House.
Ketchikan volleyball players and coaches raise Title IX concerns to school board
Leila Kheiry, KRBD – Ketchikan
Representatives of Ketchikan High School’s volleyball team came to the Ketchikan School Board on Wednesday with a long list of complaints, including gender bias, alleged violations of Title IX, and objectification of the athletes involved in volleyball.
How the Blue Lake Dam is costing Sitka
Emily Kwong, KCAW – Sitka
The city of Sitka is struggling to pay off the Blue Lake Dam in a big way. The project was largely funded through bond proceeds. But due to a major decline in electric usage by Sitka customers, the city doesn’t have enough money to meet the bond payment. This is true not only for this year, but in the coming year as well should electric usage in Sitka plateau and voters fail to approve a ballot question raising the mill rate.
The event was part of a larger tour around the Yukon after traveling through British Columbia. The visit focused on First Nations issues and culture.
“We as a people have struggled for generations and for years and years and we’re finally coming out of the other side of it so to speak,” said Andy Carvill, Chief of the Yukon’s Carcross Tagish First Nation. “We’re rebuilding our culture through songs and performances.”
He spoke at a traditional ceremony welcoming Prince William and Kate Middleton to the small Yukon community of about 300 people on a crisp, sunny day.
“The majority of the First Nations in the Yukon have settled,” Carvill said. “We are a government. And we’re asking that you assist us and help us to continue to build that relationship with the crown.”
The royal couple was greeted with joyful dancing and singing, a performance by the Dakhka Khwaan Dancers and another by a children’s dance group.
Carvill was joined by First Nations chiefs from across the territory, the Grand Chief, and the Premier, among other local dignitaries. Visitors came from around the Yukon, and some from Alaska. Amidst the merriment, Carvill spoke about serious issues affecting First Nations people.
“We still have obstacles before us that we continue to battle on behalf of our people for the protection of our land, protection of our waters, the clean air that we breathe,” Carvill said.
He says he’s optimistic that the Carcross Tagish First Nation that has been established for 10 years will have the support to work through those obstacles.
“For those like the children that are dancing, carrying on our songs and our cultures,” Carvill said. “And those yet unborn, it’s very important to us to continue to work together to get that recognition as a government.”
Ryan McDougall, who was part of the dance group that greeted the royal couple, said this visit is about education.
“It means about educating people who, like the royals about our cultural ways and who we are as a sovereign people,” he said. “How we need to share our cultural ways. Our songs, our histories and our dance so that we can view each other as being equal.”
There was a serious message at the core of the royal visit, but for many it was just plain fun to see royalty so close to home.
“This is an epic trip,” said Nancy Spear, of Juneau.
She came to Carcross with her friends Nan Saldi from Skagway and Kathy Madson from Haines, where the three started their journey.
“And left the boat harbor at 4:30 to get to Skagway by seven so we could hit the border right when it opened.”
Spear said it’s really exciting to see the Duke and Duchess in the Yukon.
“That they would come to such a small place and that they value the beauty of our area,” says Spear.
Cathy Sheardown is from Whitehorse and carries with her a photo album with pictures of previous generations of the royal family visiting the Yukon.
“I think it’s great they always include the North within their visits,” Sheardown said. “Because quite often we are, we feel left out or separate from the rest of Canada but this proves we’re not, I guess.”
The royal day in Carcross included a visit with a master carver, a trip to Montana Mountain to cheer on mountain bikers and a meeting with members of a program that employs young people to build trails.
William and Kate also stepped on board the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad.
While the royal couple was only in Carcross for a short time, it’s clear those few hours had a meaningful impact on the community, as people young and old came out to celebrate and welcome the regal guests to their home.
Andrew Freed of Anchorage (Photo by Wesley Early, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage)
FREED: There was definitely more of a culture shock for me going from Anchorage to Kotzebue than moving from Mississippi up to Anchorage, Alaska.
Well, I’ve been to Kotz once and at sometimes you forget that you’re in America. The way the houses are built are different. You know, it’s not like you can go to this large shopping area here and there.
They’ve been a people for about… ever. But in the past 200 years they just been trying to integrate them in these school systems. And they’re kind of having you know trouble with that versus “Oh. we’re just coming out here, subsistence living, fishing for you know what we eat and what not.”
Anchorage is not what you see on TV when they talk about Alaska. That’s not Anchorage. No. Anchorage is like just another smaller American city.
Up here, everybody knows one another. So it’s just like, okay you know this person. Oh, I can already assume with the help of Facebook that we have four or seven people in common that we know. Just off the bat. So whenever I go somewhere, like oh, I’m going to see somebody I know. It’s not a matter of “if”, it’s just “who”, you know.
I don’t even count the amounts of different cultures up here in the city and in our community. I mean they all for the most part have some form of representation that’s something we can take from each culture and learn from and you know enjoy. And that’s kinda the joy of having a diverse culture like we have here.
There’s definitely something about Alaska in particular Anchorage that’s always going to feel like home. I don’t think I’ll stay here and make this my home base. At least for now. I don’t know what the future holds. But, I’ll definitely be leaving but I think there’s always gonna be a part of me that you know wants to come back here a little bit.
The world’s best choir is planning a free concert in Anchorage Oct. 4 and 5. The Gracias Choir and Orchestra brings a bit of Christmas flavor to Alaska in October, and the family-friendly show depends on a network of enthusiastic volunteers to make it happen.
The award winning Gracias Choir (Photo courtesy of Gracias Choir)
Julie Pak has got her running shoes on. The UAA student is one of the volunteer organizers helping to produce the Gracias Choir show at Anchorage’s Alaska Center for the Performing Arts, and she dashed from a late class to publicize the event. Pak can’t help but blurt out that the choir took first place in last year’s choral competition in Germany
“They have never won second place,” Pak said. “It’s always been first place prize. Last year, it was the biggest choral competition in Germany, and this was the most prestigious choir competition from all over the world. And the Gracias choir won the grant prize in Germany, out of all the choirs, and that is why we are able to say boldly, they are the world’s best choir.”
Awards from Italy, Switzerland and South Korea are on the choir’s wall as well. When you think Gracias Choir.. think TV’s Glee with lush sets, brilliant costumes and unbounded youthful energy on an international scale.
That’s a traditional South of the border tune, but don’t be surprised that the singers are not Mexican. They’re actually Korean.
The Gracias Choir Christmas Cantata will occur in Anchorage Oct. 4 and 5. (Photo courtesy of Gracias Choir)
The Gracias Choir originated in South Korea and is affiliated with the International Youth Foundation, a Christian based, but non-denominational non profit that works with youth around the world.
“As volunteers of this organization, we go to Mexico to teach English camps,” Pak said. “I myself have been to Mexico five times, to teach English, and this year will be my sixth time on winter break to do these camps.”
Julie said her link to IYF is through an Anchorage church.
So the Mexico-Korea connection resulted in the choir’s name Gracias, which means “Thank you” in Spanish.
“They are called the Gracias Choir because they sing out of their hearts because they want to bring joy to other people,” Pak said.
Volunteers, like Pak, have been passing out free tickets, and brochures to advertise the upcoming Anchorage performance. The October show is all about the Christmas season
It is a lavish stage production, with acts centered on the traditional story of Jesus’ birth. The program presents simple solos of well known Christmas songs, too, along with thundering renditions of Handel’s best known work.
According to their site, “The Gracias Christmas Cantata is a show-stopping musical experience that has amazed audiences all across America since 2011. From LA to NYC and everywhere in between.” (Photo courtesy of Gracias Choir)
There are 120 people in the orchestra and choir, and every one of them is a volunteer. The tour and stage production are fully funded through donations.
The whole choir joins in the special Christmas concert. Choir member Gyunsoo Park said “everyone puts their whole heart into it to come up with ideas for the show”
Julie Pak said the choir sends a powerful message to young people.
“This choir didn’t start off professionally,” Pak said. “They started in a small room with 9 people. They wanted to bring joy to people’s hearts through this music. And they had the one dream that they could be one day the world’s best choir. They are the world’s best choir.”
She said going toward a dream with determination can fulfill that dream.
The Gracias Choir Christmas Cantata show plays October 4 and 5 at Alaska Center for the Performing Arts in Anchorage. The show is free, but get there early, as it is first come first serve.
The fate of a state owned public water source north of Fairbanks remains in limbo. The Fox Spring is a popular place for locals to get their drinking water, but the state wants to divest of the property to eliminate rising maintenance costs for the aging well. Sale to a neighboring landowner is in the works, while a citizens group explores other options.
Fox Spring (Photo courtesy of Alaska Department of Transportation
The deadline for public comment on sale of the Fox Spring is Friday. The Alaska Department of DOT spokeswoman Meadow Bailey said the sale to a neighboring property owner is not a done deal in light of citizens fighting to preserve public ownership.
”People have commented about the desire to keep this well open and available for public use and we are very committed to helping that happen,” Bailey said.
Under state law, the closest neighbor, gets first right of refusal if land goes up for sale. Fox Spring neighbor Patrick Kohl said he’d rather the land and spring stay with the state, and is only interested in acquiring the property as a buffer for his land. He emphasizes that even if the sale goes through, he wants the water source to remain accessible to the public.
”My neighbors use it here and I use it myself you know to get water,” Kohl said. “You know, as long as I can work out some kind of use that people are comfortable with, I have not problem with doin’ this.”
The DOT resorted to private sale to Kohl after the North Star Borough and other public entities declined the Fox Spring. A task force, headed up by Fairbanks Soil and Water Conservation District is fighting to keep it in state hands. Coordinator Joni Scharfenberg said the group wrote the Governor’s office seeking delay of the sale. She said they’ve been told the real estate transaction will proceed, but slowly, giving the task force time to work on public access options.
”Trying to find out if this is or could be designated a historical site or a park some way and that way would be again a public entity,” Scharfenberg said.
Scharfenberg said the task force is also investigating liability issues and ways to cover maintenance expenses.
”People have suggested like a cooperative somehow,” Scharfenberg said. “Other people have suggested a membership. It was very interesting though when one of the public task force meetings was held, people said we don’t want people who can’t afford it to not be able to use it. So people were willing to pay but they weren’t going to make people who couldn’t afford it pay. But we don’t know how it’ll turn out in the end.”
Scharfenberg said a similar public well in Salcha charges users 5 cents a gallon to cover maintenance costs. She said the task force is still trying to nail down exactly what annual expenses would be at the Fox Spring, where the well is expected to need work to maintain adequate water flow.
The Naknek Electric Association is working to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars embezzled over several years, and repair its reputation with a furious membership. The theft was discovered as new manager Dianne King took the helm from longtime manager Donna Vukich, who retired in March. King and an independent audit turned up the missing money, and NEA’s governing board ordered a forensic audit of the books to at least 2010.
About 20 co-op members showed up for the August 29 NEA board meeting to hear the latest about hundreds of thousands of “misappropriated” dollars. (Photo by KDLG)
“Some expenses paid for by the Association should have been the responsibility of a former employee and are now being questioned,” board president Nanci Morris Lyon wrote to members in a July letter. “NEA’s board unanimously directed the manager and attorneys to do a full investigation and recover the funds through negotiation, and if necessary, legal means. To date the Association has been repaid a large portion of the funds that were identified as misappropriated.”
Vukich was the former employee who has since paid back $405,000 to NEA. She has been in her husband’s home country of Croatia for several months.
Twenty or more co-op members turned out for the August 29 meeting of NEA’s governing board, some with stiff comments and questions to deliver.
“This was almost $500,000. How did it get by you guys?” one person asked. Others in the audience called out their disappointment in Vukich, the auditors, and the board members. Some asked the board to go after bonuses and benefits paid to Vukich, and several insisted the board turn the matter over to the state for criminal prosecution.
“Bank robbers would love to have this deal,” another person called out, upset to think the board might put the matter to rest if all the money is paid back.
The board convened with its attorneys in executive session to determine what details of the investigation could be shared at the August meeting.
“It is the advice of our attorney, in the interest in looking out for the board and NEA itself, we don’t want to make claims that we have not been able to prove yet, to stay clear of defamation of character suits in the future,” Morris Lyon said, promising to offer more updates and information after the audit is completed and the attorney advises it prudent to do so.
King said two lump sum payments had been made thus far, the first for $237,000, and the second for $168,000. An audit back to 2014 was complete as of the August board meeting, and work was underway to check the books through 2010.
“And if something is found, will we continue to keep going back?” asked a person in the audience.
“Absolutely,” Morris Lyon said.
The specifics of how the money was taken have not been fully disclosed, but the board and its attorney Andrew Fierro alluded to credit card payments online and over the phone that had pulled purchases away from oversight. Speaking in general terms about “these types of cases,” Fierro said embezzlers evade detection through “mischaracterized expenses, overstated expenses, and multiple reimbursements.”
“It just doesn’t happen by somebody writing themselves a check every month and then it piles up and we have a large amount of money,” he said. “It’s usually never that way at all. It takes various ways and forms, and when it’s not done in house, when something is purchased over the internet, then that takes it even further afield from the office procedures.”
The question of criminal prosecution remains to be determined. Morris Lyon said a federal investigator had already looked at the case and declined to take it on. The board could still turn findings from its internal investigation over to the state, but she said they are moving cautiously for now.
“We’ve been advised against it at this point until we know exactly where we’re at, because if we do move forward with any legal procedures, we again risk NEA, the membership, the board, in defamation lawsuits,” she said. “Once we do decide that we’ve concluded the investigation, have our numbers confirmed, and know what they are, at that point, we will be able to choose to move forward or not.”
That answer rankled the members present at the August meeting. One person said it would not be good for the youth to see the case go unprosecuted, another called for the alleged thief to be “banned from [NEA] membership,” and another wanted her “ostracized from the community.”
Fred Pike, a former manager and mayor of the Bristol Bay Borough, picked careful words to express his disappointment. “Living in the community for as long as we have, and putting the trust in the board and the people that they hire, and having someone that was hired from our community misappropriate that amount of money was a real disservice,” he said after the meeting.
Pike said he and his wife were shocked when they learned that Vukich, who he did not refer to by name, was suspected of stealing money from NEA. She was someone they had known for decades, had had over to the house for dinner, and had seen as a prominent figure in Naknek. Now he wants her prosecuted.
“It’s important that the board do what they can to put this before the state, and hopefully the state will follow through and prosecute this individual so that it sets an example that we don’t tolerate that sort of thing in our small communities,” he said. “If you get caught stealing from a bank, and you give the money back, you still go to jail.”
During her long tenure, Vukich spearheaded the NEA attempt to produce geothermal energy, a costly endeavor she said in a 2012 KDLG interview dated to discussions in the late nineties. The ambitious project failed and NEA settled tens of millions in debts through bankruptcy.
Morris Lyon downplayed the impact of the stolen funds on the electric cooperative’s bottom line.
“The board now feels confident reporting that the amount of misappropriated funds is not enough to affect payroll, benefits, cash flow, credit worthiness, or ongoing operations in any material way,” she wrote in the July letter. “NEA’s annual revenues are nearly $7 million and the Association has a net worth of nearly $10 million. The Association will remain current on all debts incurred as a result of Chapter 11 bankruptcy.”
NEA hopes to answer more questions for its members ahead of the October meeting. So far the Association has not disclosed the exact amount of misappropriated funds, what the money was used for, nor what source of NEA funding was tapped into. NEA says new policies and controls are in place to better prevent this theft from occurring again.
Attempts to reach Donna Vuckich for comment have not been successful.
Lance Wilber, left, briefs the Anchorage Assembly on the administration’s 2017 budget proposal. (Photo: Zachariah Hughes, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage)
Officials in Anchorage are preparing for a $35 million budget gap, caused by a drop in state support and growing expenses for the city’s work force.
During a meeting Friday, the administration offered its plan to close that gap with a combination of property taxes, cuts to nearly every city department, and dipping into a small budget surplus from last year.
“We won’t be able to afford everything that we’d like to do, so we’re really gonna have to make some tough choices,” said Lance Wilber, director of the Office of Budget and Management for the city.
Part of the proposed plan is trimming positions and budgets from within each city department. Those range from as little as a $9,000 cut to the Public Works Administration to nearly $926,000 less for the Fire Department.
The reductions proposed at this early stage in the process are a preliminary attempt by the administration to figure out where it can shed jobs and costs.
“We actually identified which departments, how many people, whether they’re filled or unfilled — and it’s a combination of both,” Wilber said.
One of only two departments to grow is the Anchorage Police Department, up about $3.14 million this year from the addition of 56 new officers by year’s end. The administration is on pace to fulfill a campaign promise from Mayor Ethan Berkowitz to rebuild the force to more than 400 officers. In comments during the presentation, Berkowitz told assembly members that depending on attrition in the year ahead the department could have between 430 and 450 officers by the end of 2017. But now the bills are starting to be due. The larger department makes up the biggest share of the growth in this year’s budget, which is up a little over one percent from last year, from $497 to 502 million dollars.
The largest share of the city’s budget gap is from growing costs for labor, healthcare, retirement contributions, and remaining work on the SAP software project. On top of that, there’s another $15.4 million in state dollars that won’t come in this year, some from programs like Community Revenue sharing that other towns and cities across the state will struggle with in the months ahead.
Officials in Anchorage are pursuing a number of different avenues to bring in extra revenues. The current budget proposal includes a modest increase of $4.5 million overall from property taxes; the owner of a $300,000 home would pay $46 more on her or his tax bill. The administration expects new tax revenues from cannabis to be around $2.3 million, a dividend from the trash utility to bring $1.8 million, and plans on using $8.9 left over from a budget surplus last year.
But there’s also the gradual retreat in state services. The Department of Transportation is preparing to reduce snow plowing along state-owned roads in Anchorage, which leaves municipal officials expecting they’ll have to cover more of them, but with fewer staff.
“It’s not that they’re not going to get done,” Wilber said after the meeting was over, “it’s just that it’s going to take a little longer to do.”
Instead of plow-outs taking 72 hours, for example, Wilber said its likely to be closer to 80 or 84 hours.
The administration and assembly will spend the next six weeks ironing out details before a final budget is approved in mid-November.
Learning from the past helps inform the future. Clive Thomas’s new book on policy, people and the institutions that helped create the political structure of Alaska is an exhaustive examination of topics such as the state’s constitution and how it differs from others, being an owner state, the politics of lobbying, the federal relationship, transportation, economic realities, state courts and a wide range of political issues. I do mean wide range. The book is more than 1200 pages and weighs 5 pounds!
HOST: Lori Townsend
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Governor Bill Walker’s administration wants to borrow money to pay for public workers’ pensions, by selling up to 3.3 billion dollars in what are known as pension obligation bonds. The plan is drawing concern from lawmakers, who say it may be risky.
Randall Hoffbeck, Comm. Dept. of Revenue, governor’s press conference, January 22, 2016. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North.)
Alaska’s government is obligated to pay public workers 6 billion dollars more in future pensions than it has in assets.
State Revenue Commissioner Randall Hoffbeck says the best way to close that gap is to sell pension obligation bonds.
During a Senate Finance Committee meeting Thursday, Hoffbeck said the state would pay less than 4 percent interest per year for the bonds.
“Your returns are not within your control, but your cost of debt is. And we have historically low costs of debt,” Hoffbeck said.
The bonds are essentially low-interest debt. The state would use that money to invest. If investment returns are higher than the bonds’ rate, then the state would save money.
A 2008 law allows the administration to issue the bonds without legislative approval. But the Legislature would have to decide to spend the money to pay off the bonds.
Wasilla Republican Senator Mike Dunleavy questioned why the administration planned to sell the bonds at a time when the Legislature is out of session and in the middle of an election campaign.
“You know, many times, we as individuals do more due diligence on buying a toaster than we do on such money movements at such a magnitude that we do in the state,” Dunleavy said. “It doesn’t make any sense to me.”
Hoffbeck said the timing is due to low interest rates. And he cautioned against waiting any longer, since interest rates have risen since earlier in the summer. He says that if legislators say they won’t appropriate the money, the state may not find buyers for the bonds.
Dunleavy asked for more time to weigh the proposal.
“There’s some that say that just by having this discussion, will cause uncertainty amongst those dealing with the bonds and the interest rates may go up,” Dunleavy said. “My response to that is: There should be scrutiny. And anyone that’s not asking the questions that are in a similar position that I am, they need to be asking the questions.”
Pension obligation bonds have drawn criticism nationally. The Government Finance Officers Association says they involve considerable investment risk. It recommends against state and local governments issuing the bonds, since investing the money may not earn more than the bond payments.
Association Director Stephen Gauthier told the Finance Committee the bonds have a history in recent decades of failing to benefit governments.
“They frequently fail. Matter of fact, until 2009, most of them failed,” Gauthier said. “Now, you know, there’s more winners than losers, but still it’s pretty risky business. And it often attracts governments who are in the least position to take those kinds of risks.”
The Department of Revenue projects that the state will save slightly more than a billion dollars over the 23-year life of the bond, if investments earn 7 percent.
Hoffbeck said if everything goes according to plan, the bonds will be priced the week of October 24th, with bond sales closing the week of October 31st.
Fiscal conservative Bill Evans, who represents south Anchorage, is pushing a measure which would nearly double the number of cabs over the next five years, adding 116 new cars to the fleet, including 16 wheel-chair accessible vehicles. After those five years, there’d no longer be a fixed number of cab permits within the municipality, and Evans compared the application process to getting a fishing license: anyone eligible can apply.
The goal of the ordinance is to make the taxi industry more competitive and improve service to customers, according to Evans. Many residents in the further parts of the municipality like Eagle River and south Anchorage complained publicly two years ago about the scarcity and expense of cabs when the startup company Uber was trying to establish a presence.
The measure has a long way to go after it is officially introduced Tuesday, and Evans expects it to attract fierce resistance from the taxi industry in the months ahead.
Lawmakers see Walker’s potential pension bonds as risky
Andrew Kitchenman, KTOO – Juneau
Governor Bill Walker’s administration wants to borrow money to pay for public workers’ pensions, by selling up to 3.3 billion dollars in what are known as pension obligation bonds. The plan is drawing concern from lawmakers, who say it may be risky.
In Asia, Walker’s team gets audience but no deals
Rashah McChesney, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Anchorage
Gov Walker and several of his energy advisors returned this week from Singapore and South Korea. The trip comes as the state’s lead partners, ExxonMobil, BP and ConocoPhillips are backing out of the Alaska LNG mega-project and the state is preparing to take over.
Anchorage’s $35M budget hole filled by taxes, leftover surplus, and cuts
Zachariah Hughes, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage
Officials are preparing for a $35 million budget gap caused by a drop in state support and growing expenses for the city’s work force.
Assembly member proposes overhaul of Anchorage taxi industry
Zachariah Hughes, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage
An Anchorage Assembly member has introduced a bill that could radically reshape the taxi cab industry in Alaska’s largest city.
Hundreds of thousands “misappropriated” by former Naknek Electric manager
Dave Bendinger, KDLG – Dillingham
The Naknek Electric Association is working to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars embezzled over several years, and repair its reputation with a furious membership.
Prince William and Kate Middleton visit Yukon communities
Abbey Collins, KHNS – Haines
Alaska got as close as it could to a royal visit this week. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Kate Middleton, were met by a large crowd, music and dancing in Carcross this week.
AK: Gracias Choir: Christmas in October
Ellen Lockyer, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage
The world’s best choir is planning a free concert in Anchorage Oct. 4 and 5. The Gracias Choir and Orchestra brings a bit of Christmas flavor to Alaska in October, and the family-friendly show depends on a network of enthusiastic volunteers to make it happen.
49 Voices: Andrew Freed of Anchorage
Wesley Early, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage
This week we’re hearing from Andrew Freed in Anchorage. Freed is a UAA student and moved to Alaska 12 years ago from Mississippi.
Alaska Gasline Development Corporation President Keith Meyer, Alaska Gov. Bill Walker and Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Andy Mack discuss meetings with potential buyers of Alaska’s LNG during a press conference on Friday Sept. 30, 2016 in Anchorage, Alaska. (Photo by Rashah McChesney, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Juneau)
The trip comes as the state’s lead partners, ExxonMobil, BP and ConocoPhillips, are backing out of the Alaska LNG megaproject the state is preparing to take over.
Walker says over the last 10 days, his team had 20 meetings with ambassadors from Japan, Qatar, Singapore and others.
They’re working to raise awareness and market the $45 billion to $65 billion Alaska LNG project.
And, while they didn’t return with any firm commitments to buy into the project, Alaska Gasline Development Corp. President Keith Meyer said the team made progress.
“I would say we moved the ball quite a bit. Now we didn’t sign MOUs (memorandums of agreement) and we’re a little ways from that. What we’re doing now is raising awareness. Also correcting, as the governor indicated, correcting some misperceptions out there that the project had stopped. There were some bad headlines preceded us,” Meyer said.
As the state seeks buyers for North Slope natural gas, it must also continue with the regulatory process of permitting the massive project. And it’s unclear exactly how much that’s going to cost the state.
Meyer said the team is working on budget scenarios for different levels of activity, including further engineering work. Though, he says that work takes a lower priority to getting permits and finding funding for the project.
Walker said he confirmed in several meetings that it’s still possible to complete the project by 2025.
Walker and Meyer are aiming to get firm commitments and contracts from buyers within a year.
It’s unclear if the state will move into the next phase of the pipeline, which would require financing an estimated $2 billion in final engineering and design plans.
The state’s financial resources are strained with multibillion-dollar deficits and it’s unknown if the legislature would continue appropriating funds for the project.
But Walker said he thinks the legislature is just as focused on selling the state’s gas as his administration.
“Given our financial situation, some have said, ‘Can we really afford to do this?’” he said. “And I guess, I’d say, ‘Can we really afford not to do this?’”
Walker plans to be in Asia again in November to speak in Tokyo.
A brown bear mauling prompted the Coast Guard to rescue two hunters from a mountain near Hoonah and bring them to Juneau Saturday afternoon. Only one of the hunters was injured.
U.S. Coast Guard search & rescue demo at the 2016 Juneau Maritime Festival (Photo by David Purdy, KTOO – Juneau)
Coast Guard Lt. Greg Isbell said the injured hunter explained they were hiking a mountain when the bear ambushed them.
“He had described that he had multiple puncture wounds, and the bear had grabbed his leg and bit into his thigh,” Isbell said.
Isbell said the bear was a mother with two cubs. One hunter said they had to kill the mother to save their lives. He said the cubs appeared to be about two-years-old.
Isbell said after the mother was killed it was still a tense situation.
“The hunters had to continue to shoot warning shots at the other two bears to keep them away because they kept trying to close in while they waited (for) transportation,” Isbell said.
The Coast Guard launched a helicopter from Sitka with a corpsman and rescue swimmer aboard. They brought the hunters to Juneau and the injured hunter was taken to Bartlett Regional Hospital.
Isbell did not know the full extent of his injuries.
In the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta, where Yup’ik is the primary spoken language, the Alaska Court System has a new Yup’ik interpreter, who happens to be the first official interpreter for the language in the country. Crystal Garrison, who recently passed the National Center for State Courts’ written exam for Court Interpreter, has become the first Yupik speaker to do so. And she didn’t just barely pass – she got a score of 93.
Crystal Garrison (Photo by KYUK – Bethel)
There are about 10,000 Yup’ik speakers in the Delta. Sometimes these people find themselves in court, which can be confusing for English speakers, but even more so for those speaking English as a second language or who don’t speak English at all.
“First I try and figure out exactly what they’re there for, and usually they’re in some type of distress or worrying about something when they come to the court,” Crystal Garrison said. She has spent the last five years learning the ins and outs of interpreting in the court. Garrison has worked for the Alaska Court System in Bethel for 15 years. She was born in the regional hub, but grew up in the small village of Eek where she spoke mostly Yup’ik until her family moved to Anchorage when she was ten. There, she went to an all-English speaking school.
“The first friend I made, she was Caucasian, she’s still one of my best friends to this day. But I remember talking with her, and just speaking very basic English to her, and she wouldn’t make fun of me, but she’d say ‘What’s wrong with your English?’, or ‘What’s your accent?’ She thought it was different, and to me I wasn’t speaking any different than she was,” Garrison said.
Language has always been important to Garrison, and when she started working for the courts she noticed a big problem.
“I saw a lot of defendants not being able to express or communicate with the people that they needed to for a better outcome for them,”Garrison said.
Garrison brought this issue up with her bosses, who agreed. Together they worked to certify Garrison as a court interpreter. Stacy Marz, Director of Self-Help Services for the Alaska Court System, is one of the people who helped Garrison with the process, and has been working with Garrison and others on a range of tools to translate legal terms.
“We have been working to develop a Yup”ik legal glossary, so that there’s a common language to talk about these terms,” Marz said.
As with other languages, there are not always words for certain concepts, so interpreters have to use long descriptions instead. It can be hard to nail down the right phrase.
“I remember when we were talking about the phrase in English: domestic violence protective order. It took, I think, over two hours to come up with analogous language in Yup’ik to describe that,” said Marz.
Marz and her team will continue to grow the glossary, while Garrison has other goals. She wants to train more interpreters.
Eli Wyatt is a second-grader at Glacier Valley Elementary School. He answered 19+34 =53. (Photo by Quinton Chandler, KTOO – Juneau)
“Nineteen plus 34. Can you do it?” Tia Vreeland, a kindergarten and first-grade teacher at Glacier Valley Elementary School, asked her former student, Eli Wyatt.
Eight-year-old Eli is in second grade. He made a return visit to Vreeland’s classroom to prove second-graders can add double digit numbers.
This is the fifth year of a six-year curriculum review in the district and it is rethinking how hard it should make its classes.
Adding double digit numbers in first grade is a direct result of the district’s adoption of new core curriculum standards from the state in 2012.
That’s why Eli’s class had to learn last year. Vreeland had Eli demonstrate with magnets on a whiteboard. Some look like sticks and the others are what Vreeland calls “dot” magnets.
They have number values. One stick equals ten.
Vreeland asked Eli to find the answer to the problem 19 plus 34 with the magnets.
She watched him add up his magnets and use them to show how to get the answer: 53.
In the end Eli has five of the stick magnets and three of the dots.
Vreeland said this strategy is supposed to help kids understand the meaning behind addition and subtraction rules like carrying and borrowing.
“I take seven ones, I take eight ones, I put them together and if, ‘Oh it’s over 10,’ I need to regroup,” Vreeland said. “(I) clear my board, and get a 10 so that they can see and touch and feel and understand what that magic one, what I considered a magic one – why it moves over to the next place and that is the value of a 10.”
Tia Vreeland is a kindergarten and first-grade teacher at Glacier Valley Elementary School. (Photo by Quinton Chandler, KTOO – Juneau)
Vreeland wants her students to understand how the numbers they’re using relate to each other so it’s easier for them to do math in their heads.
“(That’s) instead of trying to hold everything in their head like, ‘OK, I need to take this one and my ones place is only four and I need to do this with my 10,’” Vreeland said.
Using the sticks and the dots in her lessons isn’t new for Vreeland. What is new is using them to teach first-graders to add double digit numbers.
The new state standards cover English language arts and math.
Ted Wilson, director of teaching and learning support for the district, said its core curriculum is the set of academic goals students are required to reach. He said the math has gotten harder.
“In general the standards were a year ahead of where each grade level was at – starting at kindergarten and going through ninth grade, when they first enter Algebra 1,” Wilson said.
Ted Wilson speaks at a Juneau School Board meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 9. Wilson is the director of teaching and learning support for Juneau School District. (Photo by Quinton Chandler, KTOO – Juneau)
Wilson said the higher standards make the kids learn more complicated math, but they’re also supposed to make them more comfortable with numbers.
“So taking numbers apart, putting them back together,” Wilson said. “Understanding how they relate to each other so when you get to more advanced math later on, you have that foundation of, ‘I get how numbers work.’”
By the time they hit third grade Wilson said the kids will start learning how to multiply and divide. They’ll even be introduced to fractions and decimals which kids used to see around fifth grade.
It’s similar for reading standards. Wilson said in the past, elementary kids mostly read narrative stories. Now, they’re being introduced to more nonfiction and they have to answer tougher questions to strengthen their critical thinking skills.
Wilson said in addition to the new state standards the district is also implementing national standards for other subject areas, like world language, social studies and music.
“And in fact this coming year, we’re working on the science curriculum, and so that will be the next subject that jumps up from the previous standards,” Wilson said.
Once the district finishes with science it will be done with the six-year curriculum review, and then they will start a new review cycle with math .
But, Wilson doesn’t think they’ll change the standards again.
They need to make sure the standards line up at each grade level so second-graders like Eli won’t have trouble walking across the hall into third grade.
Jim Wilcox holds up a $100 donation on Saturday. (Photo by Quinton Chandler, KTOO – Juneau)
Last year, Jim Wilcox was the board president, but he gave that up to head the food bank’s warehouse expansion.
“I couldn’t do both, so I turned the presidency over to one of my buddies,” said Wilcox, who sits on the Southeast Alaska Food Bank’s board of directors.
In the last four years, the number of people asking for food increased by 30 percent to 40 percent, he said, wearing a red cap with the food bank’s logo over his white hair.
That’s why adding space onto the warehouse was paramount.
“We can probably store probably six months of food in here right now,” Wilcox said.
“Before that, it was down in that little end down there and we’d be lucky if we could get a month that we could store. That was piled clear to the ceiling.”
Wilcox planned for the entire project — a 2,200-square-foot expansion — to take a full three months. Some said it would take double that.
He said they did it in just 52 days.
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The old warehouse space. (Photo by Quinton Chandler, KTOO - Juneau)
The old warehouse space. (Photo by Quinton Chandler, KTOO - Juneau)
View of the space added onto the warehouse. (Photo by Quinton Chandler, KTOO - Juneau)
View of the space added onto the warehouse. (Photo by Quinton Chandler, KTOO - Juneau)
One of the warehouse’s walls was dedicated to the organizations that helped make the expansion possible. (Photo by Quinton Chandler, KTOO - Juenau)
One of the warehouse’s walls was dedicated to the organizations that helped make the expansion possible. (Photo by Quinton Chandler, KTOO - Juenau)
“And four of them days were half days,” Wilcox said.
“They said it could take up to a year just to get a permit from the Corps of Army Engineers,” he said. “The guy come out here, walked over, dug a couple of holes. He was here about an hour and a half and come and sign the paper off and said, ‘You got it.’ These contractors couldn’t believe it.”
He gave part of the credit for the quick turnaround to a former Juneau contractor who he hired out of Hoonah.
“I asked him if he’d come back to Juneau and be my ramrodder, because he knew all of the contractors and everything too.”
“When the guys were still here cutting the floor, the next contractor to put all the walls up was here laying out the walls before we even had the floor done,” Wilcox said. “And that’s the way we went with the whole job.”
Wilcox gave another round of praise to the businesses who helped build the space and the others that contributed. He estimated a third of them gave their services for free.
“Engineers, surveyors – they were all free. The people who drew the building and drew all the blueprints – they were free. The electricians, 99 percent of the work they did for free,” Wilcox said.
The rest the food bank covered – mostly through donations. Wilcox said it cost them less than $70 per square foot when it should have cost about $250.
Darren Adams is the food bank manager. (Photo by Quinton Chandler, KTOO – Juneau)
The food bank’s manager Darren Adams said that right before the new and improved warehouse’s open house and ribbon cutting, about 45 people came to collect close to 1,600 pounds of food.
The new space is going to go a long way toward the food bank’s day to day operations, he said. There’s an obvious divide between the old space and the add-on.
Adams pointed out a sharp contrast between the two.
“In years past whenever I’d get a huge food drive, or get a huge food donation, I’d have to make it all fit in here,” he said.
Adams recalled palettes scattered everywhere and food stacked to the ceiling.
“I had to call in a lot of favors and ask people who don’t normally store food for us to store food for us,” he said.
But, not anymore.
“This will help us bring in more food, keep enough back to where we’ve got food for today and for tomorrow, and it will also help us buy food in bulk,” Adams said.
One thing the extra space can’t do is give Adams more manpower. He’s the only full-time employee and said the food bank is always looking for volunteers.
Wilcox left the warehouse in a good mood, but not before insisting on getting a photo of a wall covered in the names of all the organizations that helped make the expansion possible.
HOST: Lori Townsend
