Alaska Veteran’s Land Discount

Alaska sells state land to the public, and AS 38.05.940 gives an eligible veteran a discount of twenty-five percent on the purchase price. In a state that periodically offers remote parcels and subdivision lots through the Department of Natural Resources land sale programs, this is the largest cash benefit in this file that does not depend on a disability. Eligibility has three parts and none of them is a rating. The veteran must be at least eighteen years old and must have been a resident of Alaska for at least one year before the purchase. The service test is ninety days. Either ninety days or more of active duty in the armed forces of the United States, or ninety days or more in the Alaska Territorial Guard. The ninety days may be shortened where the service was cut short by a service-connected disability, and for the active duty route also where the person was separated early after overseas deployment. The discharge must be honorable or a general discharge under honorable conditions. What the discount does not touch is as important as what it does. The reduction may not be applied to survey costs, road development costs, utility assessments, or other costs the commissioner determines are reimbursable to the state. On a remote parcel those development costs can be a large share of what the buyer actually pays, so twenty-five percent of the purchase price is not twenty-five percent of the bill. It applies to acquiring surface rights, for non-commercial and non-industrial use, and cannot be used in a restricted sale. One discount per lifetime. The statute says a veteran is entitled to only one discount under the section during the veteran's lifetime, so a veteran who uses it on a small parcel has spent it. A currently serving member without a DD214 is not yet eligible, because the discharge document is the proof the Department of Natural Resources requires. The application is a notarised veteran eligibility affidavit with the DD214 and proof of Alaska residency, submitted on the department's request within a stated deadline during the sale process rather than in advance. The Alaska Territorial Guard route is not a historical curiosity in the way it looks. Congress recognised Territorial Guard service as active federal service in 2000, and surviving members and their records are still being processed.