New proposal could give Anchorage Assembly members health care benefits

An Anchorage commission that sets compensation for elected officials is weighing a proposal to make Assembly members eligible for municipal health care benefits.

The idea is still in its early stages, with major details yet to be set down in a formal resolution or a clear timeline for a vote from the five members on the city’s Salaries and Emoluments Commission.

Proponents say the move brings the Assembly in step with other elected offices around the state, and is in keeping with trends nationally of boosting compensation to elected officials. The current effort in Anchorage started a year ago, when a group of former Assembly members sent the commission a letter encouraging them to extend health care benefits eligibility to future members.

“As former Assembly Members who no longer have a financial interest in the matter, we feel strongly that financially attainable health care coverage for Members is a matter of fairness and equity, and will help ensure an economically diverse composition of the Assembly,” wrote the letters signatories.

Of the 10 signers, nine served on the Assembly and were all either registered Democrats at some point in their political careers or generally voted with the body’s more progressive majority. The tenth signer was former Municipal Clerk Barbara Jones, who went on to work on Mayor Suzanne LaFrance’s recent campaign after her retirement from municipal office.

Since 2021, Assembly members have received $60,008, which was a substantial increase over the $31,096 they were paid as recently as 2019 before the Salaries and Emoluments Commission voted to raise their compensation. The chair of the Assembly makes $67,205. Along with their salaries, each member also receives a medical stipend worth $6,500 a year.

Many current and former Assembly members point out that between meetings, answering constituent correspondence, drafting policy and other duties, they routinely work more than the 40 hours a week. Eric Croft, who represented West Anchorage on the body as well as in the state House, said this makes candidate recruitment extremely difficult, jokingly referring to “the longstanding and proud tradition of lying to people to get them to run for Assembly — of dramatically understating the amount of time it takes.”

During a commission worksession this August, several former Assembly members testified on behalf of the proposal.

[City says investigation into Anchorage homeless shelter operator was flawed]

According to a presentation on the proposal to the commission from Pete Petersen, who represented East Anchorage on the body for nine years, extending the same benefits coverage to every member of the Assembly would mean a maximum potential budget cost of $324,000 a year, or an increase of $246,000 over what’s now provided to members through their health care stipends. That, however, would be if all 12 members eventually opted in rather than kept their coverage through another employer or a spouse’s insurance.

It’s not yet clear how that cost discrepancy between the Assembly’s currently budgeted stipend and potential full enrollment would be paid for. Acting Office of Management and Budget Director Ona Brause said the administration had started analyzing the proposal as part of its current early budget work and looked at models for implementing it among peer municipalities in the Lower 48.

“Many locations support their elected officials with health care insurance, but everybody does it differently,” Brause said.

Proponents have a number of arguments about why the proposal is not just fair, but will make for better governance. Chief among them is that given the relatively modest compensation that comes along with the demanding job, many people feel they cannot afford to serve on the Assembly.

“During the past decade I’ve watched the Assembly transition from a group of predominantly older, or even retired, mostly white folks to a body that is now representative of our community. But we still have a ways to go.,” said former West Anchorage member Austin Quinn-Davidson, who also served for a period as the city’s acting mayor. “The truth is that you aren’t going to get diverse representation if the only people who can afford to run for assembly are those who have wealthy spouses or spouses who have health insurance for the family.”

Quinn-Davidson also pointed out that the job itself has changed a lot for Assembly members. The body used to handle less business, meet less frequently and pass fewer measures. But over the last six or so years, Quinn-Davidson said, the expectations and hourly commitments have increased to the point that many recent members like herself, Forrest Dunbar, Felix Rivera, and LaFrance prior to her mayoral run, could not balance it alongside full-time employment.

“All of whom left other jobs to dedicate themselves completely to Anchorage,” she said.

Assembly members also make less than state lawmakers, even though they represent more constituents and are expected to work year-round instead of just during the legislative session. After a controversial vote by a state commission last year, Alaska legislators got a 67% pay increase that means they now earn $84,000 a year. And all are eligible for state health insurance coverage.

Kevin Cross thinks a discussion about whether Assembly members ought to be eligible for health care coverage misses the point.

Cross recently represented Eagle River on the Assembly, but resigned before the end of his first term. He was working more than 50 hours a week, making far less money with his real-estate business, as well as contending with all kinds of criticism and disparagement from disgruntled members of the public, he said. But, he said, some of the issues were problems of the Assembly’s own making.

“The only reason your workload is so big is because you keep sticking your nose in everything,” Cross said. “You do not have to solve everything.”

Cross said the Assembly was not supposed to be this involved in city governance, and used to have a more modest portfolio that meant people could serve part-time, focused primarily just on the budget and amending code. If the role has expanded to be full-time, deserving of health care coverage, he said, that is because “you’ve got an octopus with 12 legs sticking (its) tentacles into every part of government.”

The proposal still has a ways to go before commission members decide on whether or not to approve it. The group will need at least two more meetings to draft a detailed resolution and take public comment on the measure.