State officials can’t fix Alaska’s budget crisis if the public doesn’t get it, according to former Juneau Mayor Bruce Botelho.
“If the public is aware of the situation, they’re going to be in a better position to give elected officials permission to make decisions, make the hard decisions, and to make them soon,” he said. “I think we all share the view that the longer we postpone making those decisions, the fewer options we have and the more drastic the outcome.”
Botelho is one of the organizers behind Wednesday night’s forum at Centennial Hall on the budget crisis. Without dramatic changes, the state is forecast to run at a $3.5 billion annual operating deficit for the foreseeable future.
Juneau, there’s a fiscal forum on September 30th. Everyone should be there. #akleg #akgov #alaska #juneau pic.twitter.com/NQa7njRIVu
— Pat Race (@alaskarobotics) September 21, 2015
The program begins at 6 p.m. with the governor’s budget director Pat Pitney, who will explain the state budget and the financial circumstances.
She’ll be followed by a panel of four finance and economics experts: Jim Calvin of the McDowell Group, natural gas pipeline expert Larry Persily, economist Gregg Erickson and Anchorage finance consultant Brad Keithley.
“This event is not designed to come to any specific resolution, in terms of, ‘Here’s the package that’s going to solve the day,’” Botelho said. “And in fact, our speakers reflect I think a range of political perspectives, some who believe government needs to be drastically reduced and reengineered, others who believe that while some cuts should take place, our focus needs to be on generating revenue through broad-based taxes.”
A community panel will ask the experts questions, and then Juneau’s legislative delegation will discuss what Botelho calls “the art of the possible.”
Organizer Pat Race also encourages attendees to play with the state’s interactive finance modeling tool. He said it’s helped him put the scale of the budget crisis and possible fixes in perspective.
“To sit down and look at, like, ‘Oh, that’s actually going to not change anything by implementing that,’” he said. “Or, ‘Wow that has a huge effect!’ to fiddle with the settings and increase different taxes, or what not.”
Administration officials will walk attendees through the model and in a separate room starting at 5:15 p.m.
Race described himself as a political satirist who accidentally learned about government along the way. His pitch for who should attend?
“Anyone who wants to stick around Alaska, might want to have an idea of what it’s going to look like in 5, 10 years, and be a part of that conversation,” he said.
The organizers were speaking on “A Juneau Afternoon” on Monday.
You can listen to the entire interview from Monday’s A Juneau Afternoon here.
You can see past coverage of the governor’s related conference on Building a Sustainable Future at 360north.org.
