Wasilla mayor gets raise: Is $10,000 enough?

WASILLA — The city council voted Monday night to increase the mayor’s salary by $10,000 to bring it more in line with other top administrators around the state.

Previously, the mayor’s annual pay was set at $75,000 with a 1.5 percent increase each year in office. However, the mayor of Wasilla effectively takes on the role of city manager as well, many of whom make more than $100,000 in comparably sized cities.

The new pay scale puts the mayor, currently Verne Rupright, on a step-level matrix similar to other city employees. The mayor is on a step separate from but equal to the city’s department directors. The first level comes with a salary of $85,779 and a 2.5 percent annual increase.

Councilwoman Leone Harris was a co-sponsor of the first ordinance to increase the mayor’s compensation introduced earlier this month. She is happy the raise went through, but she said the salary is still inadequate.

She would have rather seen the ordinance passed in its original language, giving the mayor a 10 percent increase over the step below and a salary starting at $94,357. However, an amendment passed during the meeting bringing the mayor’s compensation down to that of the department directors.

“His position is equal to that of a CEO. He is responsible for the entire operations of the city,” Harris said. “If we want to keep our city out of trouble and out of lawsuits, we need people with an education behind them running for the position. If you are not willing to pay them, you won’t attract them.”

Harris pointed to a raise given to the city clerk three years ago. The council determined she was not being paid comparable to clerks in other cities around the state and gave her a $14,000 raise. The same matrix was used for evaluating the mayor’s position, and the city’s human resource specialist determined the position should come with a salary of $102,000.

Instead of setting the wage at a fair rate for the position, Harris said the council let personal politics slip into the decision.

“I believe there are people on the city council that have a strong dislike of the mayor that is sitting in the seat now,” Harris said. “Two people on the city council are trying to micro-manage the city. They have an ax to grind because the mayor fired a few of the administrators.”

Councilwoman Dianne Woodruff, the sponsor of the amendment dropping the salary back down to the previous step, said she resisted the amount precisely because she is focused on the position, not the person. This mayor may have the background to warrant a bigger salary, she said, but past mayors have had less skills, and no one can say who will be elected in the future.

Woodruff admitted Rupright is working harder than the previous two mayors but said it is hard to justify a raise in the current economic conditions. Senior citizens are not getting a cost of living increase this year from Social Security, she said, and Wasilla just doubled the water and sewer rates. If she was offered a raise for being on the council, she would decline.

“He volunteered for the job. I don’t think any elected official should ever get a raise while they are in office,” Woodruff said.

For his part, Rupright is still worried the salary may not attract the highest qualified candidates. He said the bar was set high when Wasilla became a first class city, and because of this, the first three mayors were very capable business people. If the salary adjustment system was not changed, as it was in 1996, it would be at $102,000 today, he said.

“Wouldn’t you think the city of Wasilla would want to set the bar — beginning with the mayor’s office — as high as you possibly can,” Rupright said.

The position should come with a salary equal to its responsibility, he said. The city is expanding, and the mayor is responsible for overseeing the department heads. If the directors don’t do their job right, the citizens look at the mayor to blame, he said.

“Where does the buck stop? It lies right in my lap,” Rupright said.

Woodruff does not see any problems with the mayor making less than the department directors higher up on the same pay scale. The department heads are expected to have a level of expertise in their area, she said, and it’s the staff who holds the city together.

“Essentially, all the mayor has to do is find and hire good candidates and coordinate their efforts,” Woodruff said.

Harris disagreed. The amount of work that comes with the position requires the mayor to give up any other job or career, and it takes a toll on family life as well.

“I know what he does, and I have a fairly good idea of what’s involved with his job. He works way more than 40 hours a week,” Harris said. “I know I wouldn’t do it for $85,000.”

Contact Todd L. Disher at todd.disher@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.

A version of this story first appeared at Frontiersman.com on Tuesday.