Anchorage Assembly to hear proposal capping city department staffing Tuesday

Anchorage city departments would have to hold staffing to a count of full-time-equivalent (FTE) positions fixed in the annual budget under an ordinance the Anchorage Assembly is scheduled to hear Tuesday. The cap would cover every department, office and agency except utilities and enterprises.

The city exceeded its budgeted position total in each of the past five years, by 2 to 18 a year on more than 2,300 budgeted, according to Chugiak-Eagle River Assembly Member Jared Goecker's memorandum on an earlier version. It says the increases likely have "completely logical and reasonable" grounds.

A department could exceed its FTE count only with prior approval from the Office of Management and Budget and the mayor, according to the ordinance draft. The Assembly chair would approve added positions in the Legislative Branch instead. The mayor or the chair would then have 30 days to tell the Assembly the funding source and the reason for the addition.

Goecker, Midtown Assembly Member Erin Baldwin Day and South Anchorage Assembly Member Zac Johnson sponsor the measure. Their memorandum says the Assembly intends to write the caps into final approval of the 2027 general government budget. The ordinance would direct the mayor to report long-standing vacancies by Oct. 31.

It would waive review by the Personnel Rules Committee and require the annual 120-day memorandum to list, by department, positions vacant 12 months or more without active recruitment. An earlier version would have voided those positions outright, the memorandum says, though the Assembly amended that out before its vote.

Goecker submitted that version, AO 2026-34, in March. On April 28, the Assembly rejected it 5-7, with Johnson voting no.