TEMSCO
tion” trigger a red flag but so far this means the approvals go to Washing- ton for higher-level scrutiny. “We haven’t seen any delays yet,” Anderson said. Anderson also said DOTF has au- thority to advance up to $400 million in payments on contracts, and that this amount can be increased to $500 million to $600 million, if needed. Legislators are getting nervous, however, about the state making ad- vance payments on contracts given current uncertainties in the Trump Administration. Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, a co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee, said the state could quickly find itself with tens of millions of dollars in sudden liabil- ities if advance payments are made and the new federal administration freezes funding and fails to repay the state. The latest amendment to the state’s four-year Strategic Trans- portation Improvement Program (STIP) has been approved, and this will fund $6.9 billion in Alaska proj- ects over four years. Some good news is that Alas- ka is expected to receive $120 mil- lion in additional funds in August in an annual redistribution of unspent federal transportation funds among states. Last year the state was short- ed in the redistribution due to prob- lems in qualifying for certain federal programs.
Serving all of Alaska since 1958 HELICOPTERS, INC.
TIMBER EXPLORATION MINING SURVEY CARGO OPERATIONS
TEMSCO Helicopters, Inc PO Box 5057 Ketchikan, Alaska 99901 Phone 907-225-5141 • fax 907-225-2340 • www.TemscoAir.com
— Tim Bradner
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www.AlaskaAlliance.com
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