FIFTH OPENING – The Sitka seine boats Hukilau and Rose Lee pump herring aboard this afternoon at the end of Deep Inlet during the fifth opening in the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery. The opening was being held in two locations beginning at 11 a.m. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson) 

New RFP Sought For Managing PAC
27 Mar 2024 14:48

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The future of management and operations at the Perform [ ... ]

Seiners Get Second Day with 2 Areas to Fish
27 Mar 2024 14:46

By Sentinel Staff
    The Sitka Sound commercial herring sac roe fishery continued today with open [ ... ]

Braves Take Second in Last Minute Upset
27 Mar 2024 12:41

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
    After storming into the state 3A boys basketball brac [ ... ]

Tuesday City League Volleyball
27 Mar 2024 12:39

By Sentinel Staff
    The Queen Bees’ spotless season record ended Tuesday night with a 2-1 loss [ ... ]

Kodiak Alutiiq Museum Getting New Attention
27 Mar 2024 12:37

By SHIRLEY SNEVE
Indian Country Today
    A major renovation at an Alaska museum to attract tourist [ ... ]

House Hearing on Inmate Deaths Halted
27 Mar 2024 12:35

By CLAIRE STREMPLE
Alaska Beacon
    A presentation about a jump in the number of inmate deaths in  [ ... ]

Nominee to Bering Sea Council: Not a Trawler
27 Mar 2024 12:34

By NATHANIEL HERZ
Northern Journal
    Tribal and environmental advocates calling for a crackdown o [ ... ]

March 27, 2024, Police Blotter
27 Mar 2024 12:26

Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
March 26
At 2:10 p.m. a man e [ ... ]

March 27, 2024, Community Happenings
27 Mar 2024 12:25

Big Rigs Sought
For April 13
The 3 to 5 Preschool’s spring fundraiser and Big Rig event is happening [ ... ]

Reassessments Raise Tax Bills for Sitkans
26 Mar 2024 15:22

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The city’s reassessment of taxable real estate, alo [ ... ]

Two Areas Opened in Herring Fishery Today
26 Mar 2024 15:21

By Sentinel Staff
The third opening in this year’s Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery was held Mon [ ... ]

Lady Wolves Rally to Take Fourth at State
26 Mar 2024 15:16

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
    Sitka High’s Lady Wolves bounced back from an openi [ ... ]

Edgecumbe Girls Close Out Season Up North
26 Mar 2024 14:58

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel ports Editor
    Competing in the state 3A basketball tournament in Anc [ ... ]

City League Monday
26 Mar 2024 14:55

By Sentinel Staff
    Playing in a competitive division City League volleyball game Monday evening [ ... ]

House Votes to Broaden Rules For Review Panel Memb...
26 Mar 2024 14:52

By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
    A bill that passed the Alaska House of Representatives on Monday  [ ... ]

Alaskan Grilled in D.C. Over Climate Science
26 Mar 2024 14:51

By NATHANIEL HERZ
Northern Journal
    Gus Schumacher, the Anchorage Olympic cross-country skier, a [ ... ]

Faster Internet Speeds In Rural Schools OK'd
26 Mar 2024 13:53

By CLAIRE STREMPLE
Alaska Beacon
    Alaska’s rural schools are on track to access faster interne [ ... ]

Native Words Gathered In Environment Studies
26 Mar 2024 13:52

By YERETH ROSEN
Alaska Beacon
    In the language of the Gwich’in people of northeastern Alaska,  [ ... ]

March 26, 2024, Police Blotter
26 Mar 2024 13:49

Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
March 25
At 7:48 a.m. a calle [ ... ]

March 26, 2024, Community Happenings
26 Mar 2024 13:48

Vietnam-Era Vets
Invited to Lunch,
Commemoration
American Legion Post 13 will host a luncheon 1-3 p.m.  [ ... ]

Sac Roe Herring Fishery Opens in Hayward
25 Mar 2024 15:30

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The 2024 Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery got under [ ... ]

Projects on the Table For Cruise Tax Funds
25 Mar 2024 15:28

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The Assembly will start the annual process of determi [ ... ]

Braves Take Second at State after Close Loss
25 Mar 2024 15:23

By Sentinel Staff
    Competing in the 3A state championship title basketball game Saturday, the M [ ... ]

City League Games Continue
25 Mar 2024 15:11

By Sentinel Staff
    Playing through the afternoon Sunday, City League volleyball teams faced off [ ... ]

Other Articles

Daily Sitka Sentinel

Gov’s Budget Spells Trouble, Say Sitkans

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
and KLAS STOLPE
Sentinel Staff Writers
    Sitka’s state House member and local officials say Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s proposed budget cuts would hit Sitka hard, but they caution it’s still early in the process.
    “The full impacts will be assessed in a few days,” Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins said today. “We’re still getting the gory details of the implications – I don’t know what the full implications are. This is just the beginning.”
    The governor’s budget, released Wednesday, calls for a 23 percent cut in state funding for public schools and a 41 percent cut to the University of Alaska, and reductions to state reimbursements to cities on school capital projects, among other proposals.
    If enacted, these cuts – as well as Dunleavy ’s funding reduction for the ferry system – would have an impact on Sitka, but Kreiss-Tomkins said the details are still being sorted out.
    He said Dunleavy’s budget represents a “deeply ideological vision for Alaska” calling for “minimal public services, privatization and a dividend check.”
    “The governor did what he said he was going to do,” Kreiss-Tomkins said. “It’s not surprising. On the campaign trail it sounds good to cut all the fat and waste. It’s been rhetoric for years, but it’s the first time an actual budget document has been presented that walks the walk in terms of cutting services like education, the Pioneers Home, the ferry system, Medicaid. ... Selling the Mt. Edgecumbe Aquatic Center. We could add 20 items to the list.”
    The Legislature will now create its own operating budget, but it’s also possible the governor will use his line-item veto to get his way, Kreiss-Tomkins said.
    Kreiss-Tomkins is a member of the House majority coalition that was announced just today.
    “It’s good for Alaska, and good for Sitka,” he said, of the coalition. Committee assignments were not announced by press time today.
    In Sitka, local government and school officials said they are still learning the details of the governor’s budget, but agreed that it will be a rough year if it passes.
    “Huge cuts to the ferry system, huge cuts to schools, and the school bond reimbursement,” City Administrator Keith Brady said, listing a few examples. “(Revenue sharing) is not in the budget. How it’s going to affect the city we don’t know. We’ll be talking to the public and Assembly: where do we go from here?”
    But he added it’s still early in the legislative session.
    “There’s no need to freak out right now; it could go through a lot of iterations,” Brady said. “Obviously we’ll be watching it carefully.”
    Mayor Gary Paxton said he hopes the end result will be something more “realistic.”
    “It’s going to be a major problem for all communities,” he said. “Hopefully the Legislature will figure out a more realistic approach.”
    “Initially it looks troubling,” Deputy Mayor Steven Eisenbeisz said. “However, it still has to go through the House and Senate and we’ll see what they ultimately want to do with it. The governor’s line item veto power is troubling, and I’m concerned it’s going to put incredible strain on municipalities at this point that we have no more revenue to make up for the lost state revenue. I’m increasingly concerned about cuts in the school district and how we’re going to pay for that.”
    Sitka School Superintendent Mary Wegner called the governor’s budget “unconscionable.”
    “If implemented it will decimate public education in Alaska,” Wegner said. “We are still trying to find the actual numbers to see what exactly the impact is.”
    Wegner said she and district business manager Cassee Olin are working with the Alaska Association of School Business Officials. Olin is the most recent past president of ALASBO.
    “In rough estimates, we are looking at a 25 percent cut to the Sitka School District,” she said.
    The local school budget is just under $20 million, and the state provides the greatest share of the funding. The proposed 25-percent cut in state funding would be on top of the $1.3 million deficit is already facing, even with the loss of three teaching positions due to low enrollment.
    “We need a whole lot more information before I start talking about what I would propose,” Wegner said. “We are way too early to make any kind of statement. But how do you cut 25 percent from anything and expect it to be whole. It doesn’t work when you are cutting a pie, and it doesn’t work when you are educating our students. Our real hope is that we have legislators who are going to stand up for our students. And just a real call for advocacy. I really want to thank all the community members who have reached out but I encourage anybody who is concerned for our students to reach out to any and all Alaska state legislators and let them know that this level of cut is unacceptable.”







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20 YEARS AGO

March 2004

Matthew C. Hunter of Sitka recently returned from Cuba as part of a St. Olaf College International and Off-Campus Studies program. Hunter, a junior physics major at St. Olaf College, is the son of Robert and Kim Hunter of Sitka.


50 YEARS AGO

March 1974

Eighth graders have returned from a visit to Juneau to see the Legislature. They had worked for it since Christmas vacation ... Clarice Johnson’s idea of a “White Elephant” sales was chosen as the best money-maker; Joe Roth won the political cartoon assignment; highest government test scorers were Ken Armstrong, Joanna Hearn, Linda Montgomery, Lisa Henry, Calvin Taylor and David Licari .....

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