The Anchorage Assembly voted Tuesday night to have city auditors study how members have used their individual spending accounts.
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Each Assembly member has an annual budget of $24,000 to spend on things like travel, supplies and legislative aides. The study will examine how spending accounts were used from 2023 to now by the sitting 12 Assembly members and three members who ended their terms this year.
Midtown Anchorage Assembly member Erin Baldwin Day was a sponsor of the resolution. She said she doesn’t think there has been misuse of the funding, but she thinks the study would help build public trust.
“So I do think it’s worth the investment of time and resources to be able to demonstrate clearly to the public that yes, we are in fact operating in an above-board manner when it comes to the funds that have been entrusted to this branch,” Baldwin Day said.
The spending accounts have come under scrutiny recently after member George Martinez was fined more than $5,000 by the Alaska Public Offices Commission for using campaign funds to pay for a flight to Florida. Martinez was later censured by the Assembly for the violation.
Several Assembly members also questioned travel Martinez made to New York in his capacity as an Assembly member, though the body voted against formally investigating Martinez for that travel.
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Assembly Vice Chair Daniel Volland wanted to postpone the study indefinitely, saying Tuesday that he thought it would add to the internal audit department’s workload. The audit department recently did a more limited review of how Assembly members used their spending accounts, Volland added.
“They already did a special study, more limited in scope, and I think from that, and from reviewing the existing policy and past policies, we can make the tweaks that we want to make,” he said.
Members voted 9 to 2 in favor of the study, with Volland and Assembly Chair Anna Brawley opposed.
Brawley recently put a pause on approvals for most Assembly travel, as Assembly leaders work on updating the body’s travel policy. In an email to members, Brawley said the pause would last until the end of the year or a new travel policy is adopted.
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