Alaska News

Revisit POMV approach to PFD

The announcement of the amount of the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend this year has brought grumbling from some people for its recent drop. Keep in mind, folks, it's free money.

A more common-sense approach would be to look at how the dividend is calculated. A few years ago the board of trustees of the Permanent Fund proposed adopting a Percent of Market Value (POMV} payout method. This method is used by over 85 percent of the public endowments in this country. They suggested a 5 percent payout amount. This would protect the principal of the fund, including inflation-proofing.

If this proposal was adopted, our $42 billion Permanent Fund would have set aside $2.1 billion for dividends. This would translate to a $3,200 dividend while protecting the fund for future generations.

I think revisiting the POMV proposal makes sense, especially for rural Alaskans dealing with their higher cost of living.

-- Michael Henrich

Anchorage

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