30.0°

Gov. Sarah Palin, state legislators and other top government leaders are being recommended for pay increases of 20 percent or more under a plan set in motion by the Alaska Legislature earlier this year, before the precipitous fall in the price of oil and the recession hitting hard.

The biggest increases will go to legislators, who now get a nominal annual salary of $24,012. Under the salary recommendations released Tuesday by the State Officers Compensation Commission, they would get $50,400 a year. In exchange, legislators would lose what's called "long-term per diem," the pay they get for days they work outside the session.

For legislators, that would mean pay raises ranging from several thousand dollars to doubling.

Legislators also get what's known as short-term per diem, for the time spent in Juneau during sessions, and office expense accounts that some also take as pay. The combination of pay sources boosts the pay for the average legislator to $68,000 a year, according to Empire estimates.

The commission's pay recommendations won praise from House Speaker John Harris, R-Valdez, and House Minority Leader Beth Kerttula, D-Juneau.

"That's fine with me," Harris said Tuesday when he heard of the commission's recommendations. Harris and Kerttula are among those who publicly support higher pay for legislators.

"Sometimes it's difficult to get people to run for public office because of the reduction in pay they get from the private sector," Harris said.

Kerttula said the commission's proposal "made sense." The current system of paying variable amounts for work outside the session is often far less than the amount of work that's actually done, she said.

"It makes sense to have everyone at the same rate," Kerttula said.

Legislators have not received a pay raise for years, and there is no system set up other than the legislative process to provide raises.

"There's no cost of living. There's no accounting for inflation. There's none of that," she said.

Legislators have been unwilling to pass a pay raise themselves, with some saying fears of retribution from angry voters at the polls has prevented action. Instead, the Legislature last session created the commission, and gave it the power to set the pay for most top state officials, including the governor, lieutenant governor, legislators and top department heads.

Palin declined comment on the proposal, though spokeswoman Sharon Leighow pointed out the recommendations came from the Legislature and were intended to provide an independent, objective review of the salaries.

"The idea is, to the extent possible, to eliminate political considerations from the forthcoming recommendations about what state officials should be paid," Leighow said.

The governor is paid $125,000 a year and would receive $150,000 under the proposal.

The Legislature in 2005 changed pay levels for top department heads at the request of then-Gov. Frank Murkowski. Those people usually have the title of "commissioner" in the state system.

Department of Administration Commissioner Annette Kreitzer said the Palin administration has not sought additional pay increases for commissioners; it was the Legislature's decision to include them in the salary review.

"We did not ask to be a part of this bill; we were made a part of the bill," she said.

Commissioners now get paid varying amounts at the high end of the state salary schedule, which Kreitzer said allows the governor to reward experience or special skills. The new proposal would set commissioner pay at $135,000, based on 90 percent of the governor's salary. The lieutenant governor would be paid the same as a commissioner.

• Contact reporter Pat Forgey at 523-2250 or patrick.forgey@juneauempire.com.