Cha Ching!!!!

A couple of months ago our Governor announced a plan to give an "energy rebate" to all Alaskans to help off set the high energy costs. She said that as a state we can not sit around and wait for the Federal Government to act when we have plenty of resources our self. Alaska, being an oil state, has a state surplus that runs into the billions of dollars because of the current high cost of oil, and this plan basically wanted to take a portion of that windfall and pass it on to to the residents of Alaska.

There has been a lot of discussion in our state legislature on how this could work and last night they voted to give $1,200 to each Alaskan!! This money is going to be added to our annual Permanent Fund Dividend check that we already get each October. The dividend this year is expected to top $2,000 for each Alaskan, so when you add in the energy rebate, Sherri and I will get $6,400 just for living in Alaska in a couple of months!! Along with the $1,200 payout they are suspending the state gasoline tax for a year which will drop gas prices and they are putting millions of dollars into energy assistance programs for people in rural areas of Alaska who need more help then people like us in urban areas.

You all are sure you don't want to live here? ;o)

Here is the article in todays paper regarding the rebate:

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/487182.html