This year’s Permanent Fund Dividend will be exactly $1,000. Payments to more than 600,000 Alaskans are set to begin Oct. 2.
The $1,000 PFD is the lowest in five years. Adjusted for inflation, it’s the smallest in state history . Last year’s dividend was roughly $1,700 .
The Department of Revenue announced the $1,000 figure in a news release Friday afternoon, but it’s not exactly a surprise. Lawmakers approved the amount when they passed the state budget in May .
Gov. Mike Dunleavy proposed dividends of roughly $3,900 in his budget. That would have drained more than half of the state’s main rainy-day fund. Plunging oil revenue and uncertainty about the future led legislators to cut back on both state services and the dividend this spring.
Alaskans have received annual dividends