With the state budget in limbo and layoff notices just days away, officials at various agencies foresee cuts in services ranging from repairing potholes to issuing birth and death certificates.
At the Department of Transportation, employees involved in project design -- including engineers, surveyors and right-of-way agents -- would be laid off, said spokesman Jeremy Woodrow. Without the staff to plan new projects, the federal funding that makes up about 90 percent of the department's budget could be allocated to other states, depending on the length of a state government shutdown, Woodrow said.
"We put the state at risk of losing hundreds of millions of dollars of federal funds," Woodrow said. "This would affect the construction companies and design and planning firms that we work with."
Also at risk, Woodrow said, are pothole and guardrail repairs, brush clearing and the installation and repair of signs.
"We would not be engaged in the activities we typically do in summer to keep the roads in good condition," Woodrow said.
The international airports in Anchorage and Fairbanks, however, would remain fully operational.
Woodrow did not know exactly how many of the department's 3,500 employees would receive the layoff letters, which are scheduled to go out on Monday.
At the Department of Natural Resources, spokeswoman Elizabeth Bluemink led with some fairly good news. State parks would continue to operate through August on revenue from user fees. The Knik Public Use Area would also remain staffed to prevent a return to the criminal activity -- drug use, purposely set vehicle fires -- that occurred there previously.
Large project permitting would continue but processing likely would take more time than usual, she said.
The department would not engage in any non-competitive state land sales or associated marketing efforts, and its public information center, which takes calls about state land, water and recreation issues, would cease operations. In the Division of Agriculture, the farm-to-school and invasive weeds programs would be shut down. The Office of History and Archaeology would also close.
At the Department of Fish and Game, the commercial fisheries division would be hit hardest because it draws 60 percent of its budget from the state general fund, while other divisions have a more diverse array of funding sources. Commercial fisheries managers said their top priority is to maintain management of the lucrative salmon fisheries whose limited seasonal runs would in many cases coincide with the start of a shutdown.
"Fishing season doesn't take a pause, so it's really difficult," said Fish and Game deputy commissioner Kevin Brooks. "We just can't walk away from a fishery like Bristol Bay."
Brooks said the department would eliminate support staff for both the Board of Fish and Board of Game, shut down its subsistence research division and stop issuing permits for activities like mining or crossing salmon streams. It would also summon its five large research vessels back to port and have them tied up.
"We're preparing for the worst while we hope for a better outcome," Brooks said. "This is very unsettling to employees. If this happens and there's a stoppage -- will some employees come back? That's a question as managers that we don't know."
The Commissioner's Office at the Department of Administration, which is responsible for sending notices of potential layoffs to 9,700 state employees, would shut down, said deputy commissioner Leslie Ridle.
"The letter says the employee might be laid off. Then it's up to the departments to refine their lists and decide who would actually get laid off," Ridle said.
Within the Department of Administration, the Division of Motor Vehicles would stay open because it makes money for the state but a few employees could be laid off and lines would be longer. The Alaska Public Offices Commission would close down completely.
She said the department is already pulling back spending on state purchases of items like pencils and paper.
"We buy tons of goods and services from vendors around the state and we're not going to be buying anything from them," Ridle said.
Ridle noted that aside from the pullback of state services, the potential mass layoff of more than 9,000 people, herself included, on July 1 could have a negative effect on Alaska's economy.
"You're possibly not going to spend money on a vacation or go to the movies," she said. "There's just too much uncertainty."
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that marriage licenses and birth and death certificates wouldn't be processed during a shutdown. Those services, provided by the Bureau of Vital Statistics within the Department of Health and Social Services, would be exempt from layoffs and a shutdown, a spokesman said Monday. This article has been updated to reflect this.