The head of the state corporation in charge of a long-planned trans-Alaska natural gas pipeline is once again Alaska’s top-paid public executive.
Frank Richards, president of the Alaska Gasline Development Corp., received $479,588 in compensation during 2023, according to the latest version of the state’s annual executive compensation report, released in January.
Compensation includes salary as well as things like cashed-out leave, moving expenses and travel costs. Some “other” compensation was included atop Richards’ salary in 2023, but that didn’t materially affect the rankings. He has been Alaska’s top-paid executive since 2021.
The annual compensation report includes only executives, not all public employees, but Richards has traditionally topped the list among all employees as well.
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The state’s second-highest-paid executive in 2023 was University of Alaska President Pat Pitney, according to the report. She was compensated $403,848.
Pitney was followed by Alaska Railroad President and CEO Bill O’Leary, at $382,616; Alaska Housing Finance Corp. Executive Director Bryan Butcher, $356,387; and Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. Executive Director Deven Mitchell, $350,134.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy received $144,536 in compensation during 2023, the report said. Under a plan adopted last year by a state commission, the governor’s salary will rise to about $176,000, and the salaries of state commissioners will be about $168,000.
There is no single ranking of all state employees’ gross compensation; overtime and bonus pay can add tens of thousands of dollars to the salaries of regular employees, and specialists can earn as much as the state’s executives.
A 2022 analysis of all executive branch employees’ compensation found a forensic psychiatrist who grossed $415,000 during the state’s 2021 fiscal year, likely making him the state’s No. 2 top-paid employee during that period.
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State legislators’ compensation during 2023 is listed in a separate report. Last year, legislators received a salary of $50,407.50, relocation expenses, travel expenses, office expenses (up to $20,000 for senators or $12,000 for Representatives) and $307 per legislative-session day for personal expenses. The Senate President and Speaker of the House receive an extra $500 atop their normal salaries.
The highest-compensated legislator in 2023 was Rep. Neal Foster, D-Nome, who received $154,103.98. He was followed by Sen. Donny Olson, D-Golovin, $153,278.39; Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, $144,117.23; Sen. Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, $141,962.39; and Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, $139,541.54.
Those figures do not include a pay increase effective in 2024. Starting this year, legislators will be paid $84,000 salary.
According to the latest available data, Alaska’s average annual wage is $68,568.
JUNEAU, Alaska (KTUU) – The Supreme Court of Alaska will be taking up the case of the State of Alaska, Division of Elections v. Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr.
The oral arguments will be held Monday at 10 a.m. via Zoom, according to an order and opening notice.
The document also specifies that a decision is expected to be made before noon on Tuesday.
According to documents from the Division of Elections, the state must start printing ballots at noon on the same day.
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This comes after an Anchorage Superior Court Judge ordered Dan J. Sullivan on to the ballot Friday.
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A new home under construction in Potter Valley in Anchorage. (Loren Holmes / ADN)
This June, two very different offers reach Alaska families, and both amount to the same thing: $10,000. The difference is everything.
Bill Walker, running for governor, would hand every eligible Alaskan a one-time $10,000 check and then end the Permanent Fund dividend for good. Ask one question: Where does his $10,000 come from?
It comes from the Permanent Fund, the people’s own money and the savings Alaskans built for their children. Walker would spend that endowment once to pay Alaskans to give up the yearly dividend forever.
Think about what that does. It cancels the annual check that gives a family a reason to keep an Alaska address and replaces it with a single payout. You hand people their own savings, call it a gift and cut the tie that held them here in the same motion. It is the oldest mistake in governing money: raid what you have saved to buy a moment’s applause and call the spending generosity.
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A plan that spends the people’s savings to send the people away is not bold. It is foolish.
Now consider the other $10,000. Through Alaska Housing Finance Corp., the state offers families up to $10,000 to build a new, energy-efficient home. AHFC raids nothing. It earns its own way. Over the years, it has returned more than $2 billion to the state treasury, and it spends some of that income the way any good business does: to win a customer.
Here, the customer is an Alaskan who wants to own a home, put down roots and stay.
That is the oldest sound move in business: Invest a little of what you earn to bring in someone who stays. The homeowner remains, the community gains a family and the corporation keeps earning. The money spent comes back. A plan that puts earnings to work to bring people home is not charity. It is clever.
Same amount. Opposite source. Opposite wisdom. One spends savings; the other spends earnings. One pays Alaskans to leave; the other pays them to stay. One empties the state; the other fills it.
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This Homeownership Month, the choice is the size of a single check, and the whole question is where the check comes from and what it asks of you. Ten thousand dollars of your own fund, to wave you goodbye. Or $10,000, earned and reinvested, to help you stay and build.
Evan Swensen is the publisher of Publication Consultants in Anchorage and the author of “What’s the Money For: A Permanent Fund Mortgage Proposal.”
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