Facing a fiscal crisis due to the plunge in oil prices, Gov. Bill Walker submitted a draft of the stripped down capital budget, which is more than $113 less than what former Gov. Sean Parnell proposed. Among the projects that were cut are the Susitna-Watana Dam, the Ambler Mine Road Project, the Knik Arm Bridge Crossing, among others.
The budget is very much a work in progress. The administration said it wants the public to weigh in on the process, and will be setting up a system where they can share ideas. It’s a torturous project, and the capital budget is the easy part. Where things are going to get particularly tricky is the operating budget.
Here are screen grabs of Parnell’s and Walker’s capital budgets based on departments, which sets the situation in relief:
Parnell’s capital budget:
Walker’s capital budget:
@mike, not only is it possible but we are going to have to. Take a look at the three largest departments, cut all three in half. That gets us a very good start.
I absolutely hate logarithmic numbers and the concept of a billion, because its hard to
grasp. Of course the usage of billions seems smaller until you realize a billion is a
thousand million. So 3.5B is 3500 million USD, remember this.
Compare a 3500 million debt being trimmed by 113 million, and now it seems trivial
indeed. After all the jingles and hope/change hyperbole, we are back where we were,
stuck between a rock and a hard place. I wished I could be stuck in the opulence of
the LIO building, whilst the state drowns in debt. I can’t wait to see hawker and Stoltze leaning out on the ornate railing, waving their omnipotent hands and shouting
” let them eat cake”. I am sure the LIO will be populated with a lot of fruit cakes.
It’s not possible to balance the budget completely with current oil prices. I’m just happy that Gov Walker is showing that he’s more fiscally conservative than Parnell and steering our state in the right direction.
I’m afraid my arithmetic is the same as yours.
What in the heck was DOR’s $99 million (Parnell) capital budget for?
..and let’s not forget to stop the coporate giveaways and have the companies start paying their own way and a fair tax
By Golly, just look at all the ‘cuts’….
Given that the Budget shortfall is 3.5 Billion I don’t think that having cut 113 Million is anything to brag about. We are still in the hole 3.387 Billion
These drastic measures have resulted in a budget cut that is about 1/10th of a percent of what we need to cut to balance the budget without raiding the Permanent Fund.