Hydaburg schools scheduled for mediation over about $400,000 in unpaid PERS contributions

The Hydaburg City School District is scheduled to enter mediation over about $400,000 in unpaid Public Employees' Retirement System contributions plus interest, Chief Financial Officer Christopher Novell told the Alaska Retirement Management Board's Audit Committee on Sept. 14, according to minutes in the committee's Oct. 12 packet.

In June 2025, trustees expressed concern that required employee and employer contributions were not being credited at Empower, the defined-contribution plan's recordkeeper, and Novell confirmed they had not been processed. In that plan, employees put in 8% of pay and employers 5%. Missed contributions directly affect members' retirement savings, Trustee Bob Williams said, according to minutes in the June 2026 Defined Contribution Plan Committee packet.

Board minutes describe missing Hydaburg payrolls from March 2023 to August 2025.

As of Aug. 26, Hydaburg was among 12 PERS employers listed as delinquent in filing payroll reports. The list does not show which owe money. Committee Chair Norman West asked in March whether the status means missing reports or confirmed unpaid money.

A separate list of estimated salary-floor and interest billings names Noorvik at about $1.06 million and St. George at about $558,000, both dating to fiscal 2009, plus Nenana and Allakaket. State law charges 22 percent of whichever is greater, an employer's current payroll or its 2008 payroll, so a city can owe on a payroll it no longer has. Novell said in June that leaving the plan does not end the obligation.

The Audit Committee's next meeting is scheduled for Dec. 1.