Anchorage salary commission drafts resolution raising mayor's pay to $183,019

Anchorage's next elected mayor would earn about $183,019 a year, a roughly 26% jump from the current $145,392, under a resolution the Salaries and Emoluments Commission directed staff to draft on Thursday, July 30.

The raise could not take effect during the sitting mayor's current term. Municipal law bars a change midterm, so the new salary would apply only to whoever is elected, or re-elected, in the 2027 municipal election.

"The mayor, you can't increase the mayor's salary during the term of the office, so that doesn't work," Vice Chair Pat Redmond said, after floating a smaller increase with later step-ups. Redmond framed the cost plainly. "My whole instinct is that I'm the taxpayer and I have to pay this, but if I want a good executive, if I want a good mayor, I'm going to have to pay for it," he said.

The draft amount is higher than the range the commission first discussed. At its June 16 meeting, member Karen Norsworthy proposed the panel look at a 5% to 8% adjustment, noting that some municipal union contracts had granted raises as high as 8%. Thursday's figure was built on six years of accumulated inflation rather than a flat percentage, and it exceeds the upper end of that earlier range.

One member built the figure from Urban Alaska consumer price index data, compounding six years of inflation since the last adjustment. His calculation came to $182,913, and he moved to instruct staff to draft a resolution at $183,000. Norsworthy checked the index during a five minute recess and put the 2020 to 2026 change at 25.6%. She proposed $183,019.20, a figure that divides cleanly in the municipal payroll system. He accepted it as a friendly amendment. Redmond seconded, and no member objected.

Members compared the frozen salary to municipal labor settlements. Norsworthy said 2026 increases run as high as 8% for fire, about 5% for operating engineers and non-represented employees, and 2.5% for executives. Members also looked outside city payroll for context, noting the University of Alaska Anchorage chancellor's annual salary of $314,648 and the Anchorage School District superintendent's $250,000.

The number is not final. Staff will bring back the municipality's own CPI figures, and the commission plans to hear from the public on the percentage before acting. Members aimed to meet again in mid-August, ahead of the municipality's fall budget work, and public notice requires seven days.