February 21, 2000

Letter to the Editor
Kodiak Daily Mirror
1419 Selig Street
Kodiak, Alaska 99615

I feel compelled to respond to the front-page article in the Tuesday, February 15th issue of the Mirror, entitled, "Legislators fare better than schools on hikes." The implications of this article is that the legislators are doing something wrong by having per diem paid to them while doing state business in Juneau, a job that you, the voters, elected us to do.

The beginning comparison date of 1989, as selected by Dave Jones, Finance Director for the Kodiak Island Borough School District, is taken from a time when the State of Alaska was receiving its all time peak revenues from the oil patch. The pipeline was producing about 1.85 million barrels of crude oil per day in 1989 compared to producing about 1.1 million barrels of crude per day this year. Oil has been the state's primary source of income over these same years. Yes, the schools are not getting as much money today as they got in 1989. You, the voters, have been very clear to me and other legislators that the size of government is too large. We have heard you. We are still continuing to reduce the amount of state general fund dollars that we spend. Schools are a part of the general fund dollars.

On the issue of legislators' per diem. The legislators use to set their own per diem, and whenever they would raise it, the public would raise all kinds of fuss. To answer the public concern, the Legislature tied its per diem to the federal rate, so that whenever there is an increase or decrease, it is automatic and the Legislature does not have any say in it. For example, since 1995 our per diem rate has gone up five times and has gone down five times.

Lets talk about why there is a per diem payment. As your elected representative here in Juneau, I get paid a base salary of $24,012.00 per year. For the full time that I'm here in Juneau I pay my own housing costs, including phone, TV, electricity, all my food, etc. To help defray these costs, I receive a per diem. In addition to my costs here in Juneau, I continue to pay all of my regular costs for maintaining my home in Kodiak. Again, I do this for the base pay of $24,012 per year plus per diem. On the other hand, the superintendent of schools of the KIB School District has a contract for $90,000 per year, the assistant superintendent receives around $84-85,000 per year and Dave Jones, the Finance Director receives $74-75,000 per year. Guess what else, they get a per diem paid to them whenever they travel out of town on school business.

Another interesting point is that while state funding to the school district declined 2.6% (as quoted in the Mirror - ... "from $5,250 per student in 1989 to $5,050 in 1999"), the legislative budget has decreased 17% since 1994 - a rate 4 times the state average.

I will continue to hold the line on state spending. At the same time, we will continue to look for new sources of revenue. Any ideas or suggestions you may have on reaching a balanced state budget will be appreciated.

Sincerely,

Alan Austerman
Representative, District 6

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