Each eligible Alaska resident will receive a $1,606 permanent fund dividend this year, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration announced Friday.
The payment will be split between 631,000 recipients, and it’s each person’s share of the more than $1 billion that the state Legislature budgeted for dividends. Lawmakers set aside that amount after using a larger share of the revenues of the $63.6 billion investment fund — originally seeded with oil revenue — to pay for government services.
Dunleavy had pushed lawmakers to set dividends using a 1982 formula passed by the Legislature; it would have allowed for payments of $2,916 to each resident, while leaving a major budget deficit. Lawmakers rejected that proposal, saying that it would violate another state law that limits the draw on permanent fund earnings.
