Juneau’s city manager gets raise to $243,462.34, among the highest for municipal leaders in Alaska

Assembly OKs 3% pay increase and $2,000 bonus for Katie Koester; City Attorney Emily Wright gets similar increase to $214,925.57

City Manager Katie Koester discusses glacial flood mitigation funding at a Juneau Assembly Committee of the Whole meeting on Aug. 31, 2026. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Independent)

By Mark Sabbatini

Juneau Independent

Juneau City Manager Katie Koester got a salary hike Monday to $243,462.34, putting her near or at the top of pay for such positions in Alaska, with a 6-1 vote of approval by the Assembly.

Koester, hired as city manager in the summer of 2023 at a salary of $210,000, most recently received a raise effective Sept. 8, 2025, to $236,371.20. The raise approved Monday is retroactive to July 13, 2026.

The 3% raise and $2,000 lump-sum payment are the same that city employees represented by Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association received in July, according to Assembly Member Christine Woll, who chairs the Assembly’s Finance Committee.

"When we hired her we did a national wage analysis and a Juneau wage-analysis (including state positions etc), as well as an internal comp review and negotiated a starting salary accordingly," Woll wrote in a text message to the Juneau Independent on Tuesday. "Since then she has received increases at the same level as MEBA union employees have."

The Assembly also approved by a 6-1 vote a similar-size increase in the salary of City Attorney Emily Wright to $214,925.57, up from $208,665.60. Assembly Member Nano Brooks cast the dissenting vote on both increases. Maureen Hall and Greg Smith were absent during the vote. The vote occurred after an executive session at the end of Monday's meeting lasting about 40 minutes, with the raises announced publicly afterward.

A report published in December by the Juneau Economic Development Council stated the average annual salary for workers in Juneau was $68,352 in 2024 (up 4.2% from 2023)

Among other top-paying municipalities in Alaska, Ketchikan hired a new city manager in June at a salary of $235,000 (with an advertised salary of up to $245,000), Unalaska is seeking a city manager at an advertised annual salary of $210,000 to $230,000, and Sitka is seeking one for $200,000. Anchorage’s city manager received about $160,000 in 2024. In Fairbanks, where the mayor serves as chief executive, the city council in January rejected increasing the current salary of $88,000 by 55% to $136,000.

Woll stated Anchorage and Fairbanks "are not good comparisons" due to their strong mayor form of municipal government where the mayor has much of the power of a city manager.

At the borough level in Alaska, the chief administrative officer for the North Slope Borough is set to make $265,610 this fiscal year. Statewide, Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s salary during the past year was $176,000, but dozens of state officials earned more, topped by Alaska Gasline Development Corp. President Frank Richards at $527,764 and Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. CEO Deven Mitchell at $448,665.

Salaries for city managers outside Alaska vary considerably, with higher rates in states such as California. A government database in that state shows the city manager of Redding (population 94,294) topping the list at $635,561 in total wages, while the city manager of Beverly Hills (similar in size to Juneau at 32,116 residents) makes $503,443.

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.