Assembly holds confirmation hearing for Lance Wilbur as Chief Fiscal Officer

The Anchorage Assembly convened March 20 for a confirmation hearing on the mayor’s nomination of Lance Wilbur to serve as Chief Fiscal Officer, with the item filed as AM167-2026 and scheduled for a vote on Tuesday evening. Mayor introduced Wilbur and urged the Assembly to confirm him.

"Yes. I am pleased to introduce Lance Wilbur for the role of Chief Fiscal Officer," the Mayor said, praising his decades of municipal service and experience leading planning, development and public works departments.

Wilbur, who has served in multiple municipal roles, thanked the mayor and described the controller division’s recent rebuilding. He said staffing had been restored after a prior shortfall and that training and exposure across departments would be an early priority. "They had budgeted 20 positions and we're down to seven," Wilbur said, noting the controller division is now staffed and that several staff are relatively new while a handful have longer tenure.

Assembly members focused questions on three principal areas: the CFO’s role in long-term fiscal policy, technical fixes to accounting and reporting systems, and leadership of the finance team. Assembly member Anna Broly asked how Wilbur would engage beyond day-to-day operations to help shape longer-range fiscal policy, including multi-decade planning. Wilbur said he would bring a finance-side perspective to policy choices and work closely with treasury and public finance staff to present options that show long-term impacts on direct services.

Broly also asked Wilbur to brief the Budget and Finance Committee on debt service at a session on April 16 to educate the public and Assembly members about why the municipality carries debt and what the components and trade-offs are; Wilbur agreed to appear.

Audit committee chair Aaron Baldwin Day raised concerns about accounting practices and the municipality’s SAP system. "I've gone down a little bit of a rabbit hole recently with respect to SAP and some of our accounting practices," she said, asking how Wilbur would align internal processes with generally accepted accounting practices and deliver timely audits.

Wilbur acknowledged findings in the 2022 and 2023 comprehensive financial reports, described contractual support brought in during staffing shortfalls, and set a goal to complete the 2025 comprehensive report by the end of the year. "My goal is to make sure there are no discrepancies," he said when asked about aligning SAP with the municipality’s reporting needs.

Several members praised Wilbur’s experience and asked about his leadership style. He described a team-oriented approach, saying he intends to earn trust, support staff development, and address problems internally unless escalation is needed. On the municipality’s broader fiscal outlook, Wilbur said the challenges are longstanding and stressed the difference between budgeting (making choices with available resources) and revenue work (developing options to fund priorities), urging the Assembly to consider sustainable revenue choices rather than one-time fixes.

The hearing concluded with the Chair noting the Assembly will take up AM167-2026 on Tuesday night with an expected early-evening vote and a swearing-in to follow if the confirmation passes.