Anchorage municipal employees will enjoy a little more time off between now and the end of the year, courtesy of Mayor Suzanne LaFrance, who announced the surprise gift of one-quarter day of extra leave time to city workers — simply to mark the one-year anniversary of her administration doing a job on Anchorage.
“There’s beautiful weather on the horizon, Friday is a holiday, and we are marking our one year anniversary as a team,” LaFrance wrote in a letter sent to all current, active municipal employees this week. “In short, it’s time to celebrate!”
For those who don’t work for the municipality, this may look like a political patronage thank-you gift for helping LaFrance get into office, or perhaps an advance on what she hopes will be their work on her reelection campaign.
The extra leave, which is non-cashable and must be used by Dec. 31, will be deposited into the accounts of all full-time, part-time, and seasonal government workers. The time off becomes available starting Thursday, July 3, just ahead of the long Fourth of July weekend.
LaFrance did not say what the cost of that is to the city, but if the city has about 2,000 employees, it could be between $80,000-$90,000, or more, depending on how much overtime needs to be paid to compensate for missing workers.
The mayor also did not cite any formal justification, such as a contract obligation or budget surplus, for awarding the paid time. Rather, it appears to be a goodwill gesture extended exclusively to municipal government employees.
The gift of leave must be coordinated through supervisors, and will not appear in workers’ formal leave statements until after the holiday weekend.
While public employees may welcome the unexpected quarter-day off, the move raises questions about equity and priorities in a city where the quality of life has taken a rapid downturn, where vagrancy and crime are at all-time highs, and at a time whe tourists are now avoiding the city due to its reputation.
LaFrance concluded her letter with warm wishes and thanks, writing, “It is truly a team effort, and it wouldn’t be possible without each and every one of you.”
But for those not on the municipal payroll, the gesture may come off as a reminder of who benefits most under LaFrance leadership — public workers or taxpayers.
Buying future votes at taxpayers expense???
Truly truly, a loathsome woman! This is total 🐂💩!!
But, it’s not without precedent. Austin Quinn-Davidson pulled the same 💩 in December of 2020, only that was four hours for every public employee. What an insult to struggling taxpayers in Anchorage.
🐂💩🐂💩🐂💩🐂💩🐂💩🐂💩🐂💩
Better title might be: “Mayoralty or Royalty?”
Or Queen! I thought we were against Kings and Queens!
While it would be logical to remind her of this largess next time she moans about not having any money and raising taxes, Queen La France wears an armor of self-unawareness to have logic bounce off every time.
Really despicable to then hear her talk about “supporting families” while wasting their hard earned money.
Ironically if the city is so well run that we can give everyone more leave, maybe we don’t need all those city employees. The first I would cut are all those special assistants to the mayor…..
The less time those employees are at work screwing Anchoragites the better.
And how is she paying for this?