Alaska Digest
Interior state jobs on chopping blocks
FAIRBANKS - A number of state jobs in Fairbanks and the Interior stand to be eliminated under a budget proposed for next year by Gov. Frank Murkowski.
The child support and enforcement office in Fairbanks, which oversees about 2,000 child support cases, will lose three of its five employees.
"We're in the process of trying to centralize our operations, so we're bringing most of the cases back to Anchorage and trying to actually do more with less," said John Main, head of the division.
The office handles tasks such as withholding wages from parents who owe child support, obtaining liens and ordering paternity tests.
Murkowski's budget proposes that those duties be transferred to Anchorage. Branch offices in Fairbanks, Wasilla and Juneau would handle client inquiries.
The change is expected to save about $239,000 and no new jobs would be added in Anchorage.
The administration proposed slashing 405 state jobs under its fiscal 2005 budget, which was made public Dec. 15. Most of the cuts are to vacant positions and a total of 151 workers are expected to be laid off if the proposal is approved by the Legislature after it returns Jan. 12.
A Department of Corrections administrative clerk position in Fairbanks and a public health microbiologist with the Department of Health and Social Services also are expected to be laid off.
In addition, a part-time natural resources technician at Tok would also be laid off.
State settles claims with mortgage firm
ANCHORAGE - The state consumer protection office has settled unfair-business-practice and fraud claims against the owner of a bankrupt Anchorage mortgage company accused of cheating customers.
The $35,000 settlement with Jim Crawford, former owner of City Mortgage, will be used to help nine consumers who claim they were cheated. The state also imposed $20,000 in penalties, but will expect only half of that if all his payments are made on time.
Ed Sniffen, an attorney with the state consumer protection office, said the nine consumers had put $40,000 into escrow accounts to pay for home repairs and other purposes.
But the money was used for the company or to pay personal expenses, Sniffen said.
City Mortgage, which was once a top source of home loans in Anchorage, was closed by a federal Bankruptcy Court in 2001.
Among its creditors, the Internal Revenue Service alleges it's due about $1 million and the U.S. Department of Labor claims $80,000.
Beginning in April 1998 when City Mortgage could not meet its debts, employee 401(k) contributions and company matching funds were spent instead, according to the Labor Department lawsuit filed in September in U.S. District Court.
The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development also filed a lien against the company for nearly $25,800 in unpaid unemployment taxes. And the Alaska Housing Finance Corp. claimed $38,000 in unpaid fees.
The nine people with escrow complaints are expected to be among the few who will have their debts recovered, officials said.
"In this case the IRS will probably get it all," said bankruptcy trustee Larry Compton.