We have heard much about Alaska’s film tax credit incentive and whether or not it benefits the State as a whole or only special interests. Forty states offered similar tax credits in 2010. Many of these states have now abandoned these credits because they do not create the promised jobs for their citizens.  The glamour and Hollywood hype are there but are the financial benefits? The Legislature needs to closely audit the investment and the returns for our economy before it reauthorizes the film tax credit. The Tax Foundation’s Joseph Henchman has reviewed the status of these credits and reports that many states have abandoned them.(read more...)

The Anchorage Assembly voted down the three year nearly 15% increase in wages for plumbers (most at AWWU). Was this the right decision? The average AWWU plumber receives about $109,000 annually in pay and benefits; the average Anchorage non-AWWU plumber gets about $68,000 annually(not including benefits, if any). If you want to know what your public employee plumbers make go to: http://www.alaskapolicyforum.org/resources/municipality-of-anchorage/flowchart42/.

You decide if current wages are fair and what you think the pay raises, if any, are deserved. By the way, our military members will onlyget a 1.6% pay raise next year.

On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PL111-148), perhaps the most far reaching social and economic legislation since the 1930s. There are many unintended consequences resulting from this 2,400 page document which will impact most Americans. One consequence is the difference in coverage between Federal employees and military service members.

PPACA requires benefits and insurance providers to include young adults (ages 22-26) as child dependents in their health insurance plans after January 1, 2011 at no extra cost. So, if a family wants to keep their kids on their insurance plan until they are 26, the federal government says that the insurers must do so. The Federal government provides health insurance benefits to its civilian employees under the Federal Employee Health Benefit Plan (FEHBP) and is included in that rule; FEHBP covers the Senators and Representatives of Congress and their families.

But there are differences between the coverage that TRICARE offers and the coverage that FEHBP offers. For civilian federal employees, coverage is no extra charge. For TRICARE users, it will cost $186/month per young adult covered. If the 22-26 year old is married, they are eligible for coverage under FEHBP. But under TRICARE, they are not eligible for coverage. Finally, if the young adult has benefits provided through an employer, they are still covered. Not so for those on TRICARE.

FEHBP brings new meaning to the phrase “cadillac plan.”

As one can see, there is a significant cost difference between coverage for young adults of Federal employees and military members. The civilian employee has no added costs, the military member pays an additional $2,232 annually to insure each young adult. Why does it cost much more to insure a military young adult than a civilian young adult? To answer this question, one needs to look at the implementation of PPACA directed by Congress. Note that young adults of congressmen/senators are insured by FEHBP. Congress directed the DOD that there were to be no added costs from covering young adults under TRICARE. There was no similar direction to the FEHBP manager, the Office of Personnel Management. The taxpayer had to fund all costs for adding young adults under FEHBP.

There are other striking differences when it comes to insuring married young adults. Under FEHBP, married young adults are covered; under TRICARE, military young adults are not covered. Apparently, the DOD relied on the current policy of not covering married dependents and the OPM expanded coverage for married dependents, once again increasing costs for the taxpayer.

Finally, if one is an FEHBP young adult and is able to get health insurance from his/her employer, that person is still eligible for coverage under FEHBP. On the other hand, if one is a TRICARE young adult and eligible for health insurance from his/her employer, that person is not covered by TRICARE. This difference in coverage is not explainable.

In this case, it seems as if Congress has created a two tiered system, one for themselves and civilian employees, and one for military members. Maybe it does depend on who you are and, more so, who writes the rules. The purpose of highlighting this is not to say that this coverage should be made the same to everyone. It illustrates the double standard that we see today in the ruling class.

The Alaska Policy Forum has now made available the payroll data for positions inside MOA that are grant funded. Visit the MOA payroll data homepage and click on the blue block titled “Grant Funded Positions.”

The Alaska Policy Forum has set up a series of websites for the citizens of Anchorage and MatSu to view the salaries and benefits of civil servants inside local government. The data can be navigated by a clickable flowchart. The goal is to acquaint users with the structure and layout of local government while navigating the data. APF has also compiled a list of Frequently Asked Questions. Please be sure to read them first.

Help us spread the word: Tweet the URL, talk about us on Facebook, or email the link to everyone in your personal email list.

Anchorage School District Payroll Data Available
Most recently, the Anchorage School District payroll data was made available. Jeremy Thompson, Executive Director of the Alaska Policy Forum, praised the District administration staff for its cooperation in obtaining the data. “Some local governments can be stubborn about sharing public records. I’m happy to say this wasn’t the case with the Anchorage School District. The Municipality of Anchorage and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough were also very responsive. Staff from all entities did their best to understand what we were requesting and to fill the request quickly.”
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Find and Bookmark the Alaska Policy Forum Payroll Portals

Municipality of Anchorage click here.
Anchorage School District click here.
Matanuska-Susitna Borough click here.
Check back with this page for a list of all payroll data portals from the Alaska Policy Forum. We are currently working with Mat-Su school district.
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Anchorage, Alaska – Continuing with its efforts to advance government transparency, the Alaska Policy Forum has launched a new portal which allows citizens in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough to view the salaries of its public employees. Like the previously launched website, the data can be navigated by an intuitive flowchart, which allows taxpayers to form an image of the way their local government is structured and where current employees are focused.

View the payroll data here.

To view a list of all payroll data portals, click here.

Partner with us to make this information better. Your donation will ensure that this information is made available in the future, and in a better format. Alaska Policy Forum is doing research on how to make this information easier to access and easier to provide. We can’t continue without your support.

If you have comments or questions, please contact us at the Alaska Policy Forum by clicking the link at the top of the page.

The Alaska Policy Forum has launched a transparency website for the Municipality of Anchorage payroll. The website allows citizens to view payroll and benefit data for nearly all Municipal employees by navigating an organizational chart. The data provided lists the employee, the position title, bargaining unit, salary (includes overtime) and benefits.

“It’s important that citizens have all the information they need to make informed decisions about whether we are spending too much or too little on government services,” said Jeremy Thompson, Executive Director of the Alaska Policy Forum. “Not only should data be organized in an intuitive way, it needs to be organized in a way that depicts the structure of government. We wanted citizens to learn something about government structure when they use this tool. Transparency is a mix of useful information and a better informed consumer.”

The website is part of Alaska Policy Forum’s focus on government transparency.

To navigate the payroll data, click here.

Frequently Asked Questions.

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Gov. Brian Sandoval said he favors switching how Nevada government spends money to a “performance-based” budgeting system in which state agencies must meet pre-set goals and requirements. (Read more…)

The governor called a press conference after the election to outline his transition process, and to call for input from citizens over the next four years, stating,

We want the strongest ideas to emerge – ideas that will take our state forward, create opportunities and strengthen the economy.

One thing that citizens can tell the Governor is to continue something he is already doing. The practice started only a couple years ago, and is illustrated by the box shown below. Parnell is requiring departments to prioritize their programs.

It may not seem like a big deal, but forcing large bureaucracies to prioritize their programs is difficult and it makes them uneasy. No bureaucracy wants their programs cut, and they know that if their programs are listed by priority, the Legislature may cut some of the programs from the bottom of the list when cash is either needed and/or not available. It’s an excellent budgeting practice, and it should be required by law. Well, actually it is, but it isn’t always  practiced.

The reason is it isn’t always practiced is because some administrations interpret the statutes differently than others. The box above is taken from the FY2011 budget proposal for the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development. You may notice that there is a citation above the box from Alaska law. This means that the Parnell administration has interpreted this section of law as requiring them to compile the information in the box.

This particular section of law has a stuffy title called, “The Executive Budget Act.” The citation 37.07.050(a)(13) reads

(a) The agencies shall assure the development of a statewide system of results-based government designed to increase efficiency and effectiveness of state programs and services. Toward that end, each state agency shall, on a semi-annual basis, identify results-based measures that have been used to work toward achievement of the mission statement and desired results issued by the legislature and of other goals of the agency, and set out the results as measured. Each state agency shall also prepare information that shall be compiled and submitted on December 15 each year to the office, the legislature, and the legislative finance division; this information must…
(13) prioritize the activities of the agency from the most important to the least important.

Most people don’t understand how governments chafe under these kinds of rules. In the past, rather than abide by this law, it was easier for administrations to interpret it in some other way. In other words, the true intent of the law was not honored.

Each budget year, the departments have to pull together this information before they make their budget proposals. Not every department does it like it should be done. Some departments, like Education and Early Development, spend more than 97% of their budget on one priority. This is not prioritization. Rather the department is trying to protect its programs from being cut by making most, if not all of their department, engaged in their top priority.

Despite those bad examples, there are enough good examples from other departments that Parnell appears to be continuing the practice. Policymakers should take notice and work to hold departments’ feet to the fire to make the practice better, and make sure that when the administration changes, the practice continues.

Jeremy Thompson is the Executive Director of Alaska Policy Forum.

(NCPA) NCPA’s Unfunded Liabilities report takes a sobering look at state pension plans. Alaska’s unfunded liabilities are 42% of the state’s GDP.

Read the report <here>