Earlier this year, the State Officers Compensation Commission recommended pay increases for Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom and state commissioners that ranged from $15,000 to nearly $31,000 annually.
Those pay increases will automatically go into effect unless the Legislature passes a bill explicitly rejecting the increases by March 25. Today, Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, said during the Senate Majority’s weekly news conference that the Legislature will probably pass that legislation.
“That’s a pretty complex issue. We have received a report from the commission. It doesn’t really, I believe, go into the detail it should,” he said. “In the immediacy, we will probably disprove that report from the commission and hope to go into more detail to study all of the issues more thoroughly.”
But it’s not because legislators disapprove of the pay increases themselves, but because they’re not certain they increase pay enough. Stevens said the Dunleavy administration has struggled to fill several commissioner positions and worries that the jobs don’t pay enough to be competitive with other states.
“We’re not sure if the salary increases that are indicated for the commissioners are enough,” he said. “As you may know the administration is having trouble filling some of those positions. … I’m not sure the salaries we offer are adequate.”
Under the commission’s report, the governor’s annual salary would increase to $176,000 from $145,000, the lieutenant governor’s annual salary would increase to $140,000 from $125,000, and commissioners would go to about $168,000 from $141,160.
Last year, the State Officers Compensation Commission recommended raises for commissioners while simultaneously proposing what was effectively a pay cut for most legislators. It did not include any changes to the governor’s salary at the request of the governor. The report, which was largely driven by animosity toward elected officials, was quickly and unanimously rejected by the Legislature.
House Minority opposition
The Republican-led House, which is more closely aligned with Dunleavy, has not yet publicly indicated its position on the wage increases, but the House Minority last week announced its opposition to the increase at least until school funding is increased.
“We shouldn’t be raising the administration’s pay while our classrooms are overcrowded and students continue to suffer from years of stagnant funding and rising inflation,” said Fairbanks Democratic Rep. Maxine Dibert, a school teacher, in a prepared statement.
“We will not consider raising pay for high-level executives until we’ve passed a BSA increase to ensure Alaska’s students receive a quality education,” said Minority Leader Calvin Schrage, NP-Anchorage, also said in the prepared statement.
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Twitter.
