Gov. Bill Walker praised local government and commented on his fiscal plan at a Juneau Assembly meeting Thursday.
Addressing about three dozen people at City Hall, Walker said it’s important for state officials to change how they view oil revenue in the state.
“It takes about a $110 oil to balance to the budget this year, and we just need to get off of that mindset that if we wait long enough, the price of oil will come back like a rising tide, the price of oil is going to come back and save (us),” Walker said. “I don’t think it’s going to happen.”
This is the sixth community Walker has traveled to this year to address a local assembly.
The goal isn’t to apologize for his budget vetoes, he said.
“I make lots of decisions every day, and not many of them are really pleasant, but I have to make these decisions,” he said. “So if we don’t make some changes, these will be the good ol’ days.”
All of the assembly members expressed their concerns about how the state’s future budget decisions will affect Juneau’s local budget, especially over cuts to school funding and the decrease expected in sales tax revenue due to reduced Permanent Fund dividends.
Walker said those cuts were tough decisions to make.
Although Walker would not make any promises on future budget cuts, he said he remains hopeful about finding solutions for the state’s fiscal future.
