The Anchorage Assembly held a work session on May 16, 2025, to discuss an ordinance amending the definition of “trust manager” in Anchorage Municipal Code 6.50.06 and proposed changes to how the Municipality of Anchorage Permanent Fund (the trust) is staffed and managed.

The proposal before the assembly would place a dedicated trust manager (described in presentations as a director-level, institutional-investments role) under the office of the chief fiscal officer rather than leaving that function in the Treasury division’s deputy treasurer position. Trust board members and municipal staff described the measure as an administrative reallocation intended to ensure the trust has staff with institutional investment experience to support a $400M-plus endowment and the volunteer governing board.

The discussion opened with a 15-minute briefing on the trust’s origin and mission. Presenters said the trust was created after municipal utility sales and is governed by the municipal charter and code; the charter limits the dividend to a maximum of 5 percent and the board currently follows a 4 percent dividend policy. A trust representative summarized: “The purpose of this is to be an endowment in perpetuity, so forever, and to provide a dividend to support the municipality,” and said the fund was about $435,000,000 as of March and has paid roughly $221,000,000 in dividends since inception.

Trust board members and the assembly spent much of the session on two core questions: who should perform the trust-manager duties and how the costs will be allocated. Trust board presenters said the operational role requires institutional-investment experience that the current deputy treasurer does not possess. Jeff Sends, identified in the session as a trustee, said the trust’s long-term expected return is about 6.5 percent and that a 4 percent dividend is currently paid to the municipality while the remaining return is retained to preserve purchasing power.

Municipal staff described the existing staffing arrangement: the treasurer, a deputy treasurer and a junior administrative officer historically split trust duties (presentations illustrated prior allocations of roughly 40 percent each). Glenn Cipriano, Municipal Treasurer, told the assembly that the deputy treasurer “assists the treasurer in virtually all functions of treasury” and that the deputy’s current duties also include income projection and succession planning.

Lauren Crawford, Deputy Municipal Treasurer, said her responsibilities include the duties for the trust codified in the CFO section of the code and that she does not believe her ability to perform trust work has been diminished by other duties. Crawford also confirmed that a job description for a trust-manager role has been drafted.

Assembly members pressed for specifics on cost and scope. Presenters said the trust’s intergovernmental charges (IGCs) for staffing and services would remain about the same overall, but the allocation of those charges inside municipal departments would change. Trustees estimated the all-in compensation for a full-time, qualified trust manager at roughly $150,000 per year; trustee presenters said that cost would be charged to the trust through existing IGCs rather than to the general municipal operating budget.

Members also asked about consultant support and fees. Presentations identified an independent investment consultant (referred to as RBK in the briefing) that provides quarterly performance reports and peer comparisons; trustees said the consultant fee paid by the trust had been represented at about $75,000 annually in some materials but that related documents the assembly reviewed showed higher total contract amounts in joint-service arrangements.

Several assembly members expressed concern about growth in municipal staffing and the effect on other Treasury functions. One member asked whether the deputy treasurer position had been eliminated earlier and whether that change harmed trust performance; trustees and staff said no formal funds were taken from the trust and that any staffing reassignments were administrative, though trustees said the absence of a dedicated qualified manager had required extra meetings and work.

No motion or vote occurred at the work session. Presenters said the ordinance and staffing question will return for formal consideration at the assembly meeting the following Tuesday, and staff invited further written questions between sessions.

Why this matters: the trust contributes to Anchorage’s municipal budget (presenters said the trust’s dividend contributes roughly 3 percent of municipal revenue and presenters referenced an annual dividend on the order of $16 million), and a change in staffing and oversight could affect how investment decisions and dividend calculations are supported going forward.

Next steps: the assembly will revisit the ordinance at its upcoming meeting, and trustees and municipal finance staff will provide additional materials and respond to follow-up questions requested by assembly members.