ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The state’s 12 credit unions were inundated Friday, as they are every year at this time, with new deposits, as the state paid its residents $1.6 million worth of annual Permanent Fund Dividends and “resource rebates.”
Credit union and bank representatives were reporting long lines as members sought to withdraw new funds.
About 500,000 residents received up to $3,269 in their accounts Friday morning, thanks to direct deposits of their annual state payment and one-time resource rebate payments from the state, meant to offset high energy prices. About 100,000 other Alaskans will receive their payments by check starting the week of Sept. 30.
The Permanent Fund dividend portion of the payment totaled $2,069, the largest dividend ever since the annual wealth-sharing began in 1982. The money comes from investment profits of the $35 billion Alaska Permanent Fund, the state's oil-revenue savings account.
The state is paying the $1,200 resource rebate out of windfall oil revenue due to high oil prices and a new tax on oil company profits.
