Questions about living in Juneau (Central: yard, trees, property)

[MPOLLO]

Thank you akck and DannyL for your replies. I'm feeling more and more confident about making a move to Juneau.

One last question. Does anyone know how the State of Alaska pay system works? Specifically, does anyone have any knowledge about how people advance pay-wise within each scale. I don't mean between different grades (i.e.- from grade 18 to 19, etc.) but, and hypothetically speaking, from the starting hourly salary of $25.00 to the next amount being $26.15, then to $27.55, etc... Is it a yearly increase, or...?

Any ideas?

Thanks!

[akck]

You can view the various salary schedules here:

Division of Finance (http://fin.admin.state.ak.us/dof/payroll/salary.jsp - broken link)

The process for pay increases can vary by department, but in general goes something like this.

Usually you're on a 6 month probation period, where you can be terminated without cause. You'd have to be a real screw-up for this to happen. Sometime after 6 months, you're reviewed and made permanent (they can extend the probation period though). Some places may give a step increase at this time, but most wait a year for the first increase. You'll then get an annual review along with a step increase, assuming your performance is acceptable. It is possible to get a double step increase, but your supervisor will need to jump through several hoops to do so.

In addition to step increases, if a cost of living adjustment is negotiated with the unions, most every pay scale is adjusted the same percentage. The adjustment is effective in the new fiscal year, so you'll see an increase in your second paycheck in June. If union negotiations are ongoing, any agreement will be retroactive to June.

Once you reach the highest step in the pay grade, the only increases are due to cost of living adjustments. The only way to get increases is to get a new position in a higher grade of if your position is re-evaluated and moved up a grade or two.

You'll be a Tier IV so your retirement plan will be a defined contribution plan. 8% of your salary will go into the plan and you'll be 100% vested after 5 years in the state's portion (5%). In addition, you don't pay Social Security or qualify for a SS retirement benefit. Instead, what would have gone to SS (both employee and employer portions), is placed in another retirement account which you are 100% vested. So you'll be saving about 25% of your salary while contributing about 14%. I'll bet they pushed this as a selling point for the job (while they have DB pensions).

[MPOLLO]

Thanks again for your reply, akck. I figured the pay increases went something like that. I had already found the Department of Finance link and had done some poking around there. I just couldn't figure out how people moved from one hourly dollar rate to the next?

Two more quick questions, first, to DannyL or anyone else, why should I avoid Franklin Street like the plague? Are there any other areas I should stay away from when looking for housing?

Secondly, I don't see many homes listed for sale in the downtown area. Are homes for sale in downtown Juneau far and few between? I've used Google maps to kind of stroll through the hilly parts of downtown Juneau. I saw some very beautiful looking homes, especially around the Governors Mansion and in the hills around there. How expensive are the homes in this area? I don't see any for sale when I look online so I have no real idea?

[juneaubound]

Originally Posted by MPOLLO

Thanks again for your reply, akck. I figured the pay increases went something like that. I had already found the Department of Finance link and had done some poking around there. I just couldn't figure out how people moved from one hourly dollar rate to the next?

Two more quick questions, first, to DannyL or anyone else, why should I avoid Franklin Street like the plague? Are there any other areas I should stay away from when looking for housing?

Secondly, I don't see many homes listed for sale in the downtown area. Are homes for sale in downtown Juneau far and few between? I've used Google maps to kind of stroll through the hilly parts of downtown Juneau. I saw some very beautiful looking homes, especially around the Governors Mansion and in the hills around there. How expensive are the homes in this area? I don't see any for sale when I look online so I have no real idea?

While I was still living down in Tennessee I did the same thing you're doing - researching real estate and the area as a whole, taking the virtual walks etc. and I came across a small house downtown in the back hills that looked like a nice enough house. It was $270,000, which was one of the cheaper downtown homes for sale at the time.

One day not long after I got here to Juneau I was just wandering up through the hills on the way to the trail head for Mt Roberts and came across the house. It looked nice enough from the outside - a little rundown but not bad. It's roofline was about two feet from the roofline of the houses on each side of it. The front yard from the front of the house to the fence by the road was about two feet. Not one chance in hell would I spend that kind of money for a house where I could spit into my neighbors kitchen.

Add that to the fact that there is virtually no parking in back of Juneau - I've heard stories where one car parked on the road in the winter on a hill had sliden into the car in front which had sliden into the car in front which had sliden into the car in front which had..........you get the idea.

I know someone who bought a $380,000 fixer uppper in town. I don't know how much the homes by the Governor's Mansion are but that area is very lovely. But they gotta be expensive.

[DannyL]

Franklin and Front St area (and surrounding area) is the bar and tourist shop area.

And yea, real estate prices in this area are silly crazy.

[DannyL]

mpollo, you have DM.

[MPOLLO]

Thanks juneaubound and DannyL for your replies. I look forward to my trip up to Juneau later this month.

Stay warm up there, I see that the temperatures took a nose-dive!

Thanks again-

[batam]

Do u encounter bears often in Juneau...and hiking do we run into them?

[akck]

While there are bears in Juneau, you usually don't encounter them. You're unlikely to see them on well traveled trails too. That said, we had a black bear that traveled regularly through our backyard. For the most part, if you give them their space, they won't bother you. For the most part, they are more afraid of you than you are of them. Grizzly bears are another matter, but there are not many around.

[tidelines]

[quote=RowdysMom;17136203]... and no Juneau is not green year round. QUOTE]

How do you figure that?!