The letter published to the Governor and the Alaska Legislature by Northrim Bank on June 23, 2021 contains the following points:
The State of Alaska needs to move forward with an operating budget to guarantee business is able to continue past June 30. Many businesses and their employees suffered due to mandated closures during the Pandemic. The closure of government services that support industry would make it very difficult for them to operate now that the closures have lifted; The State of Alaska needs to continue to use the POMV method to manage distributions from the Permanent Fund. Fund earnings are the foundation for future budgets and dividends. Our letter does not recommend the elimination of the Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD). We understand that it is important for many Alaskans;
The PFD should not be enshrined in the Alaska Constitution. We have seen how drastically the Alaskan economy can change in a short time and keeping the funding formula separate from the Alaska Constitution will help maintain flexibility to work through future economic challenges; and
A long term, sustainable fiscal plan is critical to providing certainty to the business community, which is needed in order to encourage future investment in Alaska. The State of Alaska must move forward to ensure that essential government services are maintained. A comprehensive plan needs to include a formula for dividends and depending on the size of those dividends a funding source for them outside of earnings from the Permanent Fund.
At Northrim, we are proud to be Alaskan. We have confidence that together, Alaskans can build the framework necessary to fund our state now and in the future.
We encourage you to read the full letter which is available by clicking here.