City Council members’ status as part-time legislators, which allows them to earn as much as they can from outside jobs in addition to their six-figure government salaries, could soon be on the chopping block.

The council is beginning talks this week to determine whether its members should be considered full-time representatives restricted from holding outside jobs.

The talks also will focus on the use of council stipends, which add thousands of dollars to council members’ $112,500 base salary for leadership positions and for heading committees. Only a handful of council members miss out on the stipends.

Civic groups have criticized the council for the hefty stipends, which are considered tools the speaker of the council can use to reward political loyalty and stamp out dissent. A mayoral commission studying pay for elected officials found in 2006 that the council’s stipend system was “ripe for reform.”

Last year, five council members earned more than $100,000 from outside jobs, with most of them pulling in the extra income from legal work. A council member who represents parts of Queens, Thomas White Jr., in 2005 earned $196,634 as the executive director of a substance abuse center, according to tax returns.

The executive director of Citizens Union, Richard Dadey, said he supports discussing whether council members should be considered full-time officials and what, if any, outside income should be allowed. “With the council growing in importance and stature and really demanding the full attention of council members, we need to examine whether the old practice of defining it as a part-time position is still appropriate,” he said.

Mr. Dadey said that with a few exceptions for leadership positions, stipends for council members should be abolished. He said he plans to testify at the hearing on council pay on Wednesday.

A senior attorney for the New York Public Interest Research Group, Gene Russianoff, has said council members should be restricted from earning anything more than a small percentage of their council salary on the side.

The chairman of the council’s Governmental Operations Committee, Simcha Felder, said the council intends “to do something” to address the use of stipends, the employment status of council members, and the way council salaries are set. “We are finally going to resolve some of these other issues,” he said.

The speaker’s office is expected to review the outcome of a Wednesday hearing on council pay before making any recommendations.

In 2006, the council gave itself a 25% pay raise, boosting salaries by $22,500 less than one year into a new term. At the time, council members said they would revisit the objections to its salary structure. Raises for Albany legislators are handled differently: Lawmakers may vote for new raises that go into effect only in the following term. Currently, state legislators, who also are part-time employees, earn a base salary of $79,500. They are now negotiating with Governor Spitzer over a legislative pay raise.

Council Member Lewis Fidler, who represents parts of Brooklyn and may have led the council in earnings from an outside job last year, taking in between $140,000 and $345,000, said he didn’t think there would be significant support from other council members to prohibit them from earning outside income from second jobs. “It’s unreasonable,” he said. “I maintain an outside law practice and I don’t think there’s anyone in my district who would say I don’t work full time as a councilman.”