Alaska Governor Palin Unveils Savings Plan

December 5, 2007, Anchorage, Alaska – Keeping her commitment to save for the future, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin today announced details of a two-year $7.1 billion savings plan.

Governor Palin also released the results of the Voices Across Alaska survey, an online survey where Alaskans shared opinions on how the state surplus should be saved and invested. More than 10,000 participated in the web survey.

“We are celebrating a milestone in Alaska’s history – an opportunity to save for the future and work toward a more predictable budget that will help every Alaskan deal with the very real challenges of living in our Great Land,” said Governor Palin.

Using the survey results as a general guideline, the two-year savings plan calls for:

• Investing $2.6 billion in the Education Fund to help fund public education in the future.

• Creating a $1 billion fund whose earnings would be used for future transportation infrastructure.

• Depositing $450 million in funds from the FY08 surplus into TRS to reduce the unfunded liability and provide future savings in the State’s required contributions to TRS. • Replenishing the Constitutional Budget Reserve with $379 million.

• Investing $250 million in an alternative energy fund. This fund would be used for energy projects recommended by a strategic energy plan, which could include hydroelectric, wind, geothermal, biomass and tidal power.

Governor Palin also proposes to deposit $2.4 billion from the Permanent Fund earnings reserve to the Permanent Fund principal. The FY 09 Operating and Capital Budgets will be released in Anchorage next week.

Source: Alaska Governor

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