Wasilla City Council raises its pay, puts limits on special meetings

What you need to know:

• Members of the Wasilla City Council voted Monday to more than double their pay for some meetings, give a modest raise for others, and limit how often the mayor can schedule extra meetings. The change was proposed by Council member Stuart Graham.
• The update is designed to make serving on the city council more attractive to residents and encourage more participation in local government, Graham said. 
• The pay raise is the first such change since 2010. Wasilla's council pay now significantly surpasses that of neighboring councils in Palmer and Houston.

Members of the Wasilla City Council voted Monday to more than double their pay for some meetings, grant a modest raise for others, and limit how often the mayor can schedule extra meetings.

The changes were approved unanimously by the council and take effect immediately. They were sponsored by Council member Stuart Graham.

Graham proposed the updates as a way to encourage Wasilla residents to serve on the City Council, he said in an interview Tuesday. The changes will also affect future pay and meeting schedules for all six current council members, including Graham.

The new pay schedule increases council pay for the twice-monthly meetings required by law from $225 to $260 per meeting, or by about 15%. It also eliminates a secondary pay structure that gave members a lower $112.50 rate for special meetings, and more than doubles that compensation by raising it to the new regular meeting rate. 

The 15% increase mirrors a similar raise recently given to some City of Wasilla employees, Graham said. The bump is the first pay change for City Council members since 2010, when compensation was updated from a flat $6,000 per year to $225 per meeting. A 2018 change lowered the pay to $112.50 for special meetings only.

The new pay rate puts Wasilla City Council members' compensation well above that of Palmer and Houston council members. Palmer council members receive $100 for regular meetings and $50 for special meetings, while Houston council members receive $50 per meeting regardless of type. Palmer's pay was last updated in 2007; Houston's was updated earlier this year.

Graham, who is running unopposed for re-election to Council Seat B in the Oct. 1 election, said he hopes raising pay and making the meeting schedule more predictable will increase interest in serving in public office. Wasilla City Council Seat A is also uncontested this year, with incumbent Cathy Cottle running for re-election.

“Obviously, compensation needs to keep up with what’s going on in the city, and you do need to increase compensation from time to time. But that’s not the issue,” he said. “The issue is making the job of City Council attractive to citizens.”

In eight of the last 10 elections, at least one race has been uncontested, according to city data.

“That indicates that there is some dissatisfaction with the job of City Council member,” he said.

The update approved Monday also limits the number of special meetings the mayor can call each year, while placing no such limit on the council. The new limit for the mayor is eight. Previous rules did not include a limit.

That change is designed to address another issue Graham believes may discourage candidates from seeking office: unpredictable schedules.

“The point here is to put the City Council in a better position to control its destiny,” Graham said. “If people feel they have an interest in city government, they shouldn’t be dissuaded by the fact that they have no idea what their schedule will be.”

In 2023, the council held six special meetings between January and September, compared with 17 over the same period this year, including seven held to discuss an overhaul of the city's development laws, according to a city calendar. It was not immediately clear how many of this year's special meetings were called by Wasilla Mayor Glenda Ledford.

-- Amy Bushatz can be contacted at abushatz@matsusentinel.com.