Alaska Governor Bill Walker made what he said was an "unprecedented" phone call into an Anchorage Assembly meeting Tuesday night to apologize for how his vetoes in state spending last week are affecting city government, and to criticize the Legislature for not taking action on his deficit-reduction proposals.
Walker called the Assembly about 6:20 p.m. He talked for about six minutes, describing the state fiscal crisis and his proposals to cut the deficit.
A former mayor of Valdez, Walker called his veto reductions, which included cuts to the Permanent Fund dividend and money to school debt reimbursement, "very difficult" because of his background in local government.
"I have watched the process go on, and I gotta say, pushing this off, forcing it onto local government was not at all what we wanted to do," Walker told Assembly members.
According to documents submitted to the Assembly last week by Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz, Walker's veto of funding for about half of Permanent Fund dividend payments will mean that Anchorage would collect nearly $2 million less than expected in dividend garnishments, a legal action to take a dividend to pay for debts like child support or taxes. Walker's veto would cap the dividend at $1,000, down from about $2,000.
City manager Mike Abbott said the cut won't affect the city's year-end balance sheet unless there's a revenue shortfall.
Walker also cut state funding to pay for school debt reimbursement, the state's major construction program that pays between 60 percent and 70 percent of school bond debt while local revenue pays for the the rest.
The veto has forced local governments to figure out how to continue to pay off the bonds without full state funding. In Anchorage, officials say the city is looking at shouldering nearly $11 million in additional costs.
The Alaska Legislature can override the vetoes, but has not scheduled a vote.
On the phone call, Walker repeatedly expressed frustration that the Legislature had not passed any of his "politically uncomfortable" deficit reduction proposals, though he thanked the Senate for passing a bill to restructure the Permanent Fund during last month's special session.
Assemblyman Eric Croft, who served a decade in the state House, asked if Walker thought the Legislature would take action on any of his proposals.
"I haven't got any reason to be overly optimistic, I'll put it that way," Walker said.
Walker said his phone call was "unprecedented" for his administration, and others said an Alaska governor has not called into an Anchorage Assembly meeting in recent memory. Assemblyman Dick Traini, who's served a total of 17 years on the Assembly, said he could not remember it happening. Neither could other longtime city officials.
A spokesman for Walker, Corey Allen-Young, said the governor was considering calling into other city assemblies.
Tegan Hanlon contributed to this report.