ANCHORAGE — Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz says his city is paying the price for the state’s failure to resolve its fiscal crisis.
Berkowitz reacted after the state Department of Corrections announced it would raise the fee it will charge Anchorage for housing prisoners.
The department announced Thursday it will increase the fee from $2 million to more than $2.9 million. The department says the increase is due to the state fiscal crisis and legislative inaction on a fiscal plan.
Berkowitz in a statement says state officials are using fuzzy math.
He says he will thoroughly review the city’s support to the state for law enforcement and corrections operations.
He says he will pay particular attention to the city’s cost of pursuing and apprehending people who escape from Corrections Department halfway houses.
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The state Department of Corrections says it’s raising the fee it will charge the municipality of Anchorage for housing prisoners by nearly 50 percent due to the state’s fiscal crisis.
The department announced Thursday it will increase the fee from $2 million to more than $2.9 million.
That’s a 46 percent increase.
The department says the increase is due to the state fiscal crisis and legislative inaction on not passing a fiscal plan.
The increase will take effect Oct. 1.
The department says the municipality has been paying the same rate since 1999.
The department says it does not charge Anchorage based on per bed use and is not recovering actual costs of housing city offenders.
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