Egan Presents Budget Proposing Spending of $78,972,000
By WARD SIMS
Associated Press Staff Writer
JUNEAU (A*) — Gov. William A.
Egan Tuesday presented the legis
lature with a budget proposing
general fund expenditures of $78,
972.000 during fiscal 1964.
The figure is $13,202,020 higher
than the general fund budget un
der which the state is operating
for the current fiscal year, which
ends next June 30.
Revenues from special funds and
recoveries will boost the total ex
penditure of state funds by $11,
968,800. In this category are funds
from such sources as fish and game
licenses and court receipts.
Supplemental Appropriation
Egan said he would also submit
supplemental appropriaton bills
adding up to $1,050,207.
“Our budget total is high, there
is no denying it, particularly when
compared with the scope of gov
ernmental operation prior to state
hood,” Egan said.
“But, it is not more than we,
as a people, can afford without
imposition of heavy taxation. It is
not more than we, as a people,
can afford if we are to provide
needed present day services and
carefully plan for a progressive
future.”
Egan s budget included monies
from the general fund for opera
ting expenses amounting to $70,
382,200, an increase of $11,497,430
from the general fund operating
budget for fiscal 1963.
Increased Costs
The governor said increases re
lated to expanding state programs
account for $8,297,000 of that hike.
He outlined these increased costs
as:
Increased school enrollment,
$900,000; Alaska Psychiatrict In
stitute, $820,000; Marine Highway
operations, $980,000; Highway ad
ministration, $934,000; Highway
maintenance, $2,132,000; Univer
sity of Alaska, $1,300,000; State
judiciary, $668,000; Debt service,
$263,000; and the added cost in
fiscal 1964 of the 1962-1963 salary
increase for state employes, $300,
000.
Egan said all other continuing
state programs account for the re
maining $3,200,000. He attributed
this increased cost to such items
as prisoner care, judicial costs and
hospitalization and care of indi-'
gents.
Capital Construction $8 Million
The capital construction budget,
insofar as general funds monies
are concerned, was pegged at $8,
589,800, with another $2,926,800 to
come from special funds and recov
eries. Last year’s total capital con
struction budget amounted to $6,
885,210 from the general fund and
$361,500 from special funds and
recoveries.
In a new wrinkle, Egan’s budget
also outlined for legislators a com
plete listing of federal funds the
state estimates it will receive dur
ing fiscal 1964 and will be author
ized to spend under various federal
programs.
He pointed out that when the
federal monies are considered, the
overall program administered by
the state government amounts to
$150,004,000, including federal
monies amounting to $59,063,200.
Egan said the estimated general
fund balance at the end of the
current fiscal year would be $27,
740,535. Estimated general fund
revenues for fiscal 1964, he said,
would be $66,657,281, leaving the
total estimated funds available for
expenditure during fiscal 1964 of
$94,397,816.
1965 Balance of $15 Million
With the proposed expenditures'
for operating and capital construc
tion programs of $78,972,000 during
fiscal 1964, Egan said, the state
should head into fiscal 1965 with
an estimated general fund balance
of $15,425,816.
Egan said education would take
the biggest chunk of the recom
mended general fund budget for
fiscal 1964, $22,634,300, or 28.67
per cent of the total budget.
“In compiling the executive bud
get,” Egan said, “All members of
the administration were thorough
ly mindful of the state’s economic
position at the present time.
“ . . . The budget review com
mittee . . . and I carefully review
ed every dollar of proposed re
quests.
“Many needed and highly desir
able programs were eliminated.
We reduced the departments’ re
quests for appropriations by more
than $11 million.”
Drop In State Income Tax
Egan said the administration also
GERONIMO
APACHE CMIEF, NOTED IN AMERICAN
PIONEER HISTORY.
UGH, NEW PIPE WITH
LONG FILTER AMO
LFIENTHOL FLAVOR
HEAP OOOO/
vr
A checking
account
records the
history ot
busin©ss
transactions.
GOOD
TO KNOW
WHERE
WAMPUM GO/'
Miners and Merchants Bank of Alaska
"THE FRIENDLY BANK”
Full Banking Services to N.W. Alaska Since 1904
BRANCHES IN KOTZEBUE and BARROW
>-—
Egan Proposes Creation
Of Committee To Study
Capital Relocation
JUNEAU UFi — Creation of a
committee of eight senators to
study all facets of Alaska’s capital
relocation question was proposed
bv Gov. Egan Monday night.
In his state of the State message
to the legislature, Egan said he
would submit legislation for or
ganization of a senatorial commit
tee, which would:
1. Determine appropriate sites
within Alaska for the location of
the principal offices of state gov
ernment.
2. Review the probable long
range needs of the state through
1975 for the housing of govern
mental offices; and
3. Make an inventory of exist
ing facilities.
The governor said he personally
believed that the present location
of the capital in Juneau “is ade
quate and will continue to be ade
quate, and that the cost of relocat
ing Alaska’s capital would divert
funds from needed public services
and improvements for many years
to come.”
Noting that Alaskans had voted
twice on the matter of capital re
location, he called the issue one of
the most divisive facing the state
today and one which “must be re
solved on a factual, logical basis.
“It appears to me that because
of the continuing nature of this
matter, a careful analysis of all
facts pertaining to the location of
principal offices of state govern
ment is vitally needed.”
He said the makeup of the com
mittee — the eight senators who
run at large within the four major
senatorial districts—would be sim
ilar to the committee which would
have been required to select a new
capital location under terms of the
relocation initiative which was de
feated in the November general
election.
took into consideration President
Kennedy’s proposal to cut federal
income taxes and said if Ken
nedy’s full recommendations are
enacted by Congress, Alaska’s in
dividual net income taxe revenue
will drop by $1.5 to $2 million a
year.
The governor cautioned the leg
islature to remember that the ap
propriation bill includes revenue
sources not identified in appro
priations bills of prior years—all
recoveries and special funds and
“most significant, all federal mon
ies which the state will receive . . .
“Unless this factor is keot in
mind,” Egan said, “the budget
figures of this year appear to be
much greater than actual recom
mended increases.
“The reason for this change in
procedure is to develop an appro
priations bill which will streng
then legislative control and pro
vide for increased effectiveness
and efficiency of the state’s fiscal
management and accounting pro
cedures.”
Egan said when the appropria
tions bill is finally enacted by the
legislature the new method of
presenting the budget will make
it crystal clear to the administra
tion the total program the legisla
ture intended to be carried out.
• BIBLE •
STUDY
TONIGHT
BIBLE ,
BAPTIST
CHURCH
I TIMOTHY, CHAPTER 6
7:00
EVERYBODY WELCOME
Chamber
Meeting News
Ira Hill, Boy Scout executive
from the Midnight Sun Council,
spoke before the noon meeting of
the Chamber of Commerce Mon
day and expressed his regrets that
there wasn’t a camporee held this j
year during his visit as he had !
looked forward to the event so that
he could get pictures for the Boy ,
Scout Magazine.
To try to explain that the cam- ;
poree was postponed because it
has been too warm in Nome to
build igloos and tunnels will be !
hard for stateside people to under
stand, he stated, considering the
cold weather which is being ex- i
pcrienced in the lower 48.
He stated that he hoped to bring
a group of 36 boys from Fairbanks, j
Eielson and Richardson next sum- i
mer to visit the Unalakleet Scout
encampment and the Nome Scout
encampment. He also hoped that
at least four boys from Nome will
be able to attend the Lost Lake
Camp at Fairbanks.
He told of the good impression !
made at the camp last year by
Willie Hoogendorn who completed
all his active requirements for
Eagle Scout and will be able to
complete the rest from his wheel
chair, to attain the goal of Eagle
Scout.
Bob Harwood reported that the
Jaycee project of getting basket
ball backboards for the armory has
progressed satisfactorily and the
backboards have been ordered and
are enroute somewhere.
Judge Hubert Gilbert was wel
comed back and reported on his
vacation which took him to his
daughter’s home for the holidays |
and then south to Mexico. While
relaxing there he and his wife en
joyed running into Mr. and Mrs.
Art McVeigh, who were also va
cationing.
Also welcomed back from vaca
tion were Virgil Vochoska who had
taken a trip home, and Ellen Mul
vihill who had been on a business
trip.
Bertha Stedje gave a short sum
mary of her 17 months abroad,
five of which were spent with the
Laplanders and one year in Copen
hagen and two weeks in Green
land, where she made comparative
studies with Teller Eskimos. She
also told of the American Lutheran
Church which has been established
in Copenhagen and which is an
English speaking church for the
2,000 Americans who reside there.
There also is an English speaking
Lutheran Church in Oslo, she
stated. Miss Stedje is stationed at
Teller Mission.
Interior Dept. Disagrees
With Alaska Over Phrase
“Reasonably Compact”
WASHINGTON W — Karl S.
Landstrom, director of the Land
Management Bureau of the Inter
ior Department, said there is dis
agreement with Alaska over “the
phrase ‘reasonably compact’ as it
is related to the selection of the
million acres of land granted to
Alaska by its statehood act.
He was testifying before the
House Interior subcommittee on
Public Lands.
“The Alaskan request might lead
to an amount and degree of sur
veying which would cost tens of
thousands of dollars and may be
far beyond anything Congress in
tended,” Landstrom said.
Reaction Generally
Favorable Toward
Egan’s 1964 Budget
JUNEAU —Reaction was gen
erally favorable from both sides of
the political aisle to Gov. Egan’s
proposed budget of $78.9 million.
If anything, Egan’s Democratic
party leaders were a little more
critical over the size of the figure
than the Republicans.
Both sides, however, promised a
line-by-line scrutiny.
“It’s not too much of a sur
prise,” said Rep. Harold Strand
berg. Anchorage Republican, who
served on the House Finance Com
mittee last year and is likely to
get the nod for its chairmanship
this year.
“The figure seems extremely
large to me,” said Sen. How’ard
Bradshaw, Sitka Democrat, who
heads the Senate Finance Commit
tee.
Inclusion in this year’s budget
of a listing of all federal funds the
state estimates it will receive for
various progams drew highly fa
vorable comment.
“I think the bright spot in the
speech was not its context of fig
ures and amounts, but that the
chief executive finally recognized
that we must know how every pro
gram is integrated with federal
funds of one sort or another,” said
Sen. John Coghill, Nenana Repub
lican, who has served on the Fin
ance Committee since statehood.
“The growth in the cost of our
state government seems to be ex
ceeding our growth in population,
percentagewise,” said Rep. Mor
gan Reed, Skagway Democrat.
The message was praised by Sen
ate President Frank Peratrovich as
“complete and fully substantiated.”
“The governor’s budget message
apparently established a plateau of
proposed spending, in that the to
tal amount equals that of last
year’s general appropriation bill
plus the sizeable supplements that
were necessary,” said Rep. Wm.
Boardman of Ketchikan, Republi
can majority leader.
“If this is true, it is certainly
encouraging and should pave the
way for a stabilization in the tax
picture and, in fact, possible reduc
tion in the state income tax, pro
viding the federal income tax is
reduced.”
“I am most certainly concerned
with the $79 million figure that
the governor presented,” said Rep.
Robert Blodgett, Teller Democrat,
who has served on the House Fin
ance Committee for the past four
years.
“However, my primary interest
is in a balanced budget, and I am
sure Egan’s budget is a sound one.”
“It is obvious from the size of
the budget that there is no $24
million surplus as we were led to
believe during the election cam
paign,” said Sen. Vance Phillips,
Mountain View Republican.
RCA Donates $75 to Each
Of Three Local Charities
Barry Powers, who heads the
RCA installation on Anvil Moun
tain, is in receipt of three checks
for local charities from the RCA
Combined Charities.
Seventy - five dollars is being
presented to each of the following:
Nome Cancer Fund, headed by
Lucille Gilbert; Nome Crippled
Children’s Fund, headed by Ellen
Lyle; and the local Red Cross chap
ter, headed by Carrie McLain.
Guaranteed
Dependable
Fuel Service
LP Gas
and Appliances
ZIEGLER
and
QUAKER
STOVE PARTS
AND REPAIRS
OIL HEATERS
Office: Dial 2561
DEAL WITH
Res: Dial 2417
CONFIDENCE AT
Green’s City Fuel and Transfer