The State Senate on Monday passed legislation to reject pay raises for Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom and state commissioners.
The State Officers Compensation Commission recommended earlier this year pay raises for the state’s executive branch that ranged from $15,000 to $31,000 annually, which will go into effect unless the Legislature specifically rejects the raises by passing a bill. Last week, Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, said the Legislature would probably disapprove of the raises because the commission’s justification was lacking.
The commission’s report didn’t suggest any similar pay raises for legislators. Last year, it had actually proposed what would have been, in total, a pay cut for legislators (a bump in base pay with a considerable cut to per diem expenses). Legislators rejected the proposal, arguing it would make it so only the independently wealthy could serve in the Legislature.
Sen. Bert Stedman, the co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee that sponsored the bill, urged legislators on Monday to reject the pay raises because it wasn’t a complete plan.
“In the Jan. 24 report, which is about a page and a half long, the Alaska State Officers Compensation Commission did not provide a comprehensive plan for compensation for both the executive leadership branch and the legislative branch,” he said. “I think we need to attract smart, dedicated and motivated leaders to the state of Alaska to move our state forward in an expedited fashion. This report, as presented, did not do that.”
Stedman said the Legislature is focused on addressing the state’s recruitment and retention problems this year, and that should extend to public service.
“I recommend to all my colleagues here and in the other body to reject this report. We need a comprehensive and holistic conversation about compensation,” he said. “We need to attract the dedicated, the motivated and the brightest Alaskans to public service.”
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.
The Republican-led Dunleavy-friendly House Majority has not yet weighed in on the proposed pay raises, but the bipartisan Minority Coalition has already staked out its opposition to the pay raises. Its members argue that the pay raises should not be on the table as long as school funding remains stagnant.
Matt 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: @mattbuxton.
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.
