Spotlight on Juneau
June 13, 2002

Hello Fellow Taxpayers:

This Saturday the Central Kenai Peninsula group will have an informational booth set up at "Nikiski Days".  This will be held from noon to 5 pm at the Nikiski Recreation area.  Volunteers are needed to help man our booth and everyone is encouraged to participate.  Please call the office if you have a few hours to donate.

On July 4th this same group will have a float in the Kenai parade and a booth at the festival after.  Volunteers are needed to help build and ride on the float.  Please call 776-8008 if you have time, materials, or other resources available.

While conducting the May survey, members statewide offered some great new questions.  We have incorporated these into a new survey.  To take this survey press your "reply" button.  Then strip out all text except for the survey questions and your answer (s).  Press the "send" button, and we'll do the rest!  If you are not sure of the answer leave the question blank.  Question number 2 can have more than one answer. 

1.    The State Legislature recently passed a budget that will spend almost one billion dollars more than our oil revenue.  In your opinion, is this deficit a “budget crisis” or an “over spending problem”?

a.    Budget crisis
b.    Over spending problem

2.    Many Legislators wanted to use earnings of the Permanent Fund (the account your dividend comes from), and new taxes to reduce the budget deficit.  What would be your solution to this situation?

a.    New Taxes (if so, which one(s) do you favor)
b.    Use earning of the permanent fund
c.    Cut spending (suggest where)
d.    Combination of all above
e.    Close existing corporate tax loopholes
f.    Cap state spending
g.    Other (explain)

 

3.    Our Legislators voted to take money from the Constitutional Budget Reserve (CBR) to close the fiscal gap this year.  The CBR has been our “savings account” for many years, and has been used frequently to close the deficit.  Do you realize that at current spending levels this account will be bankrupt by 2004?

a.    Yes
b.    No

4.    Once the CBR has been depleted, there are only two other sources of revenue available to close a budget deficit of this size.  One is the Permanent Fund, and the other is taxation.  A third option seldom discussed by our government, would be cutting expenses to match income available.  What instructions will you give your elected representatives?

a.    Continue state government spending at current levels, spend balance of CBR, tap Permanent Fund, and find new revenue sources
b.    Cut spending
c.    Other

5.    According to our elected officials and the news media, this year’s operating budget is less than last year.  In your opinion how do FY-02 and FY-03 compare?

a.    Higher spending with additional approved employee positions
b.    Lower spending with reduced approved employee positions
c.    Same spending level and no change in number of state employees

6.    Do you agree with the new “closed primary” election process which forces non-partisan and undeclared (52%) voters to choose one of the six partisan ballots available?

a.    Yes
b.    No
c.    Other

7.    Would you support legislation requiring political parties to pay all the expenses associated with a “closed primary”?

a.    Yes
b.    No
c.    Other

8.    What location in Alaska would make our Legislators more responsive to the voting public, while dramatically reduce travel and per diem expense?

a.    Juneau
b.    Sessions held via tele-conference from one of the 22 local Legislative Information Offices (LIO) statewide
c.    Other

9.    Would you support a constitutional amendment that creates a non-partisan (no political affiliation) legislature?

a.    Yes
b.    No
c.    Other

10.    Are you a registered voter?

a.    Yes
b.    No

11.    Have you seen your legislators voting record on “tax and spend bills” during the last legislative session on the “Watchdog” page at www.akvoters.org ?

a.    Yes
b.    No

Thank you for completing our survey.  Results will be available in about two weeks, and announced in the newsletter “Spotlight on Juneau”.  Please forward this message to concerned family members, friends, neighbors, and business associates.  Ask them to do the same.  Everyone is welcome to join , and will automatically receive future issues of the "Spotlight on Juneau ".  Results of the May survey are available now at the bottom of our Statistics page.

If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter, send an email with QUIT written in the message box.  Make sure the "reply to" address on your message is the one you want removed from our files.

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