Dividend division sends out 357 bogus denial letters
At least 357 Alaskans across the state received startling news last week from the state that they are criminals and not eligible for an Alaska Permanent Fund dividend. The only problem is none of them had committed a crime.
Paul Dick, chief of operations for the Permanent Fund Dividend Division, said a computer glitch caused the division to send out the erroneous letters last weekend. State law prohibits felons and some lesser criminals from receiving permanent fund dividends.
"We've had people call saying, 'I've never had a record. I've never even had a speeding ticket,'" Dick said. He added that most people have not been too angry about the mix-up.
The division receives information from the Department of Corrections and the Department of Public Safety to determine who is ineligible, Dick said.
"They give us information and we match it to our applicants," he said. "We're going back in our programs to see where the matching process got off kilter."
Those convicted of a felony become ineligible for a dividend check for the year they were convicted and for all additional years they are incarcerated for the crime. Anyone convicted of three or more misdemeanors also becomes ineligible for that qualifying year, Dick said.
He said the division will begin reversing the denial letters today. Dick added that the division expects no delay in the dispersal of dividend checks to those affected by the mailing.
He said the division does not have a total count on the number of ineligible applicants this year, but in 2003 about 6,700 applicants were denied the annual paychecks.