Governor Sean Parnell (right) displays the amount of this year’s Permanent Fund Dividend check. Revenue Commissioner Brian Butcher (left) looks on. Photo by Ellen Lockyer, KSKA – Anchorage.
Governor Sean Parnell opened a triple sealed envelope in Anchorage this (Tuesday) morning to announce this year’s Permanent Fund Dividend amount: $1174
Parnell said this year’s dividend check is healthy but the amount is based on a five year average of the stock market. He warned Alaskans can face lower dividend amounts in the future.
Brian Butcher, Commissioner of the state Department of Revenue, says the state’s savings account has remained strong, despite world wide economic woes
This year marks the thirtieth year of the Permanent Fund Dividend program, Butcher said. Over three decades, 19 Billion dollars has been distributed to Alaskans. The 2011 dividend total amount of 760.2 million dollars will be distributed among 647,549 eligible Alaskans. PFD’s on direct deposit will be in bank accounts on Thursday, October 6. Checks by mail leave Juneau the same day.
The Pick Click Give program, now in it’s third year, resulted in 1.6 million dollars last year to non profits. Next year’s PFD filing season starts January 1 and ends March. 31.
APTI Reporter-Producer Ellen Lockyer started her radio career in the late 1980s, after a stint at bush Alaska weekly newspapers, the Copper Valley Views and the Cordova Times. When the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Valdez Public Radio station KCHU needed a reporter, and Ellen picked up the microphone.
Since then, she has literally traveled the length of the state, from Attu to Eagle and from Barrow to Juneau, covering Alaska stories on the ground for the AK show, Alaska News Nightly, the Alaska Morning News and for Anchorage public radio station, KSKA
elockyer (at) alaskapublic (dot) org | 907.550.8446 | About Ellen
