Eagle Crest board urges Juneau Assembly to boost staffing, wages and capital funding as gondola work continues

At a joint meeting Wednesday, March 5, the Eagle Crest Board told the Juneau City and Borough Assembly it will seek increased budget support to fill vacancies, raise wages and fund capital repairs as the ski area pushes toward year‑round operations with the planned gondola.

Mike Satri, president of the Eagle Crest Board, said the area remains “an incredibly important and cherished community asset” but faces persistent staffing and capital shortfalls. “We have to pay our people more, we need more staff, and we have capital needs,” Satri said.

The ask comes as Eagle Crest grapples with a season marked by a low natural snowpack, mechanical problems and limits on available staff. Board members and staff described a mix of recent successes — robust season‑pass sales and 39 days of snowmaking this winter — and operational stressors that reduce capacity and increase costs.

Board presentation and numbers Mike Satri and Eagle Crest staff outlined personnel and capital estimates in a slide deck provided to the assembly. Eagle Crest’s budgeted full‑time equivalents have generally ranged between about 30 and 34 FTE; internal staffing models the board reviewed show a need of as many as 56 FTE to meet industry staffing standards. Satri said the board and staff are still vetting those numbers.

On pay, the board cited a wage gap of as much as 40% compared with…