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Commission cites UAA chancellor, school superintendent and CPI in mayor pay discussion
Summary
Commissioners pointed to the UAA chancellor's $314,648 salary and the school district superintendent's $250,000 salary and said compounding Urban Alaska CPI since 2020 supports a sizable mayoral pay adjustment; staff were asked to supply official CPI numbers.
Commission members reviewed peer and municipal workforce data as part of a discussion on raising the mayor's salary.
Member Karen told the panel she had pulled public figures for larger local public-sector leaders: "The UAA chancellor salary annual salary currently is $314,648. School district superintendent is currently at $250,000 a year," she said. Karen said those figures, and municipal wage changes for executive staff and public safety over recent years, were "shocking" and worthy of consideration when setting mayoral pay.
Karen summarized municipal increases: executives saw a 20% adjustment in 2023, police received 7.8% in 2024, most employees saw small increases in 2025, and fire was projected at 8% for 2026. Citing a compound Urban Alaska CPI calculation, she reported a 25.6% increase when looking back to 2020 and said that percentage would move the mayoral salary into the low-to-mid $180,000s if applied.
Members said they would ask municipal HR and payroll staff to provide the CPI series and negotiation data used in collective bargaining so the commission could reconcile the mayoral figure with other executive pay trends and payroll rounding rules.
