Twelve seven pm on July what thirtieth, and let's call a meeting of the salary and emoluments commission to order.

Vice Chair Redman.

It's my understanding that Chair Hayes is excused.

Chair of a quorum.

The draft agenda.

And I will second.

So the previous meeting, the meeting of June sixteenth.

Is there a second?

And I will second.

The motion's been made in second.

Hearing no objections, the minutes are approved.

Are there any disclosures?

I have nothing.

Hearing none, we'll continue to unfinish business.

And our unfinished business is compensation of the mirror.

So who wants to just start the discussion?

Uh I would hope that you would start the discussion.

Well, I would like to thank uh James, Jessica?

Jamie?

Jasmine.

I know it's a J.

I'm so sorry, Jasmine.

Um for pulling the information together on um municipal employees uh as well as um the other mayors throughout the state with the larger cities.

I think it's good information to look at.

Um both were shocking.

Um and then I also um I was trying to send you another message, but it turns out I sent it to myself.

Uh it is looking at UAA Chancellor's salary as well as the school district superintendent, and but it's available online.

Um the UAA Chancellor salary annual salary currently is 314,648 dollars.

Uh school district superintendent is currently at 250,000 a year.

Um so there just a lot of I I think shocking information um there looking at you know the municipal workforce um looking at the uh percentage of increases that they've done over the last three years, and then currently um what they've negotiated.

Um it looks like the smallest increase is 2.3, and the highest is uh eight percent salary increase.

It's kind of interesting.

Um but looking at the other mayors, I was a little bit surprised at um where their salaries landed, but also recognizing that um they have some of the government is a little bit different than ours.

Um considering that ASD is somewhat in our um our budgeting, and that is you know interesting to see where that salary lands for that superintendent, or I shouldn't say that superintendent, the superintendent, um, and then UAA chancellor, just because it's another government entity looking at how that is uh within the city was just also a little surprising.

Um so it's it's a lot of a lot to consider.

Um I I do personally, I do think we need to make an adjustment.

It's been I think since 2020 or somewhere around there since we last did an increase, and so certainly um it's due.

And looking at the municipal workforce, the school district, I think the chancellor of UAA is uh huge anonymal out there.

Yeah, um I think there's room for us to take a look at where we would, you know, how we want to approach that and look at where that increase may be.

Thank you.

Um I think that when we um last adjusted it according to the resolutions that I've found, and I think um I agree with Karen.

I think it was in 2020 to take effect in 2021.

Um my general default uh the starting point is that if we if we don't take action to at least keep up with the uh uh price index, then it's tan amount to a salary reduction if we do greater than the uh consumer price index, uh it's it's an increase.

So I tried to take a look at what just keeping up with CPI would be between 2021 and uh 2027, and of course we aren't in 2027, but we um but we will be if we did take action, it would be to take effect for a future elected mayor.

So we're really looking at something that kicks in at a at a future date.

And what you have some old data that just I I can't remember where I pulled it off, but it was urban Alaska CPI tables.

Um that showed actually a surprisingly high CPI in two years, uh, 2021 and 2022, which was information that we didn't have in 2020 when we acted on this.

And then since then, inflation has been a lot more moderate.

This year we're in.

I think people are thinking there's no way it's going to be as low as two.

It's so if you take all those and just kind of compound them.

Keeping up with CPI indicates to me that it would probably be something like a 25% increase.

Uh in fact, you know, I I came up with 1.258 by just assuming those two percent numbers that I don't have, and then three percent for the current year.

So you know, I think you know, seeing how how long it's been since we've just adjusted for inflation.

Um I guess my my starting point would be unless we have reason to think that the position is under, you know, undercompensated compared to what we think is correct or overcompensated to uh you know, compared to what we think is the correct number, just keeping up with CPI would indicate you know, something like a 25 or 26 percent increase Karen.

So looking at the municipal workforce, in 2023, the executives went up 20 percent.

Um so those are are basically the positions that are serve at the pleasure of the mayor.

Um so I know from my time work at the city, they were the executives tend to lack uh fall behind uh the unions um because they're negotiated contracts and so forth, but uh the 20% is a pretty significant increase there, um, recognizing some of the challenges that they were having.

Um in 2024, you look at um police they gave them uh 7.8 percent increase.

It looks like 2025 was pretty much flat 1.5 for everybody across the board, and then fire is looking at a 8% increase uh um you know for 2026.