The Wrangell sentinel., 1945-04-27
THROUGH THE SENTINEL PERISCOPE

When the Legislature got through amending the salary increase bill at it's recent session. they had something. it appears something that nothing less than an opinion of the Attorney General could solve. So now Attorney General Ralph Rivers went to work on il and came up with this verdict on who gets a raise and who doesn't.
 Inasmuch as the Act was ap- proved March 24. 1945, and con tains no emergency clause or other mention of an effective date, 1t cannot. under the Organic Act be- come operative until 90 days there after or until June 23, l945.
 As to the Department heads eh- umerated. the salary raise pertains upon the date stated, regardless ol when they became Territorial of ficiaIs. As to Territorial employees affected by the Act the language is that their salaries shall be fix ed at 15 percent over their res pectiye salaries in force in April, 1, 1943. Since no classification of jobs into particular ratings IS in volyed. only individuals who were personally employed by the Terri tory on April 1, 1943, would be in cluded. Apparently it was not the intention of the Legislature to raise employees who are comparatively new to Territorial service with less seniority than the last two years afford.
 The wording shall be fixed at Is per cent" may also give rise to certain doubts. For many years the only wage restriction on certain department heads in hiring person nel has been that the Legislature fixed certain maximum salary rates in appropriation bills by appropri- ating money for specific jobs in sums mot To exceed $." Within such amounts the employing official could contract to pay start ing salaries Of considerably less than the allocated maximum, thus retaining lee%ay to grant pay raIs- es d. gartieu4ar employees gained in eXpcrien e and efficiency. Ac- cordingIy. certain employees who have worked for the Territory since Apra 1. 1943, inclusive, have in the interim been raised 15 per cent Or more. by their respective department heads The question, therefore, arises: Must person who has ostained raises aggregat- ing more than I5 percent of his salary in force April 1, l943, sui fer a curtailment O. his pay 'fiX-i ing" rate exactly 15 percent over his salary in force on April l, 1943? The answer is NO. The solel purpose of the Act, so far as 1t sut-s ficient to accomplish any purpose, was to arise salaries and not lOwerI any of them. Therefore, persons! who were on low starting salaries. on April 1, 1943, and have sinceI been raised more than 15 percent,i will not benefit from the Act under. discussion. but neither will theyl suffer any pay reduction thereby. Furthermore, the Act, as an obVi- ously sketchy and single purposel measure, was not designed to de- prive Territorial Department headsl of the discretion and authorityI long exercised by them in obtaining and controlling employees neces- sary to the carrying out of the duties of their respective offices.
 In other words, the officials in question can still hire new help at starting salaries of less than the maximum above referred to and give their own raises as they see fit, within such maximums. By the same token the Department heads may pay such maximums, if they see fit. Each such official should examine appropriations made Tor his office covering the biennium, April 1. 1945 OtMarch 31, 1947, determine how much has been ap- propriated for certain positions in his office, and then, if such appro- priations allow of salary raises and he sees fit to grant any or all oi them, ne naS the rlSnl Io uo So commencing as of and including the current month.
 Newly elected officials, such as the Attorney General and Highway Engineer, are starting their terms of office with new staffs. As chic clerk in the Attorney Generals of flee a highly qualified man hal been obtained at the maxipum sal ary allowed by the money appro priated for that purpose. Wht Mnnld say that hnldoYer officials