Socialism Pays: New York City Council Committee Mulls Giving Mamdani, Members Huge Raises

The New York City Council’s Committee on Governmental Operations held a hearing Tuesday on legislation that would give the city’s top elected officials an 18.2 percent pay raise, meaning the Democratic Socialist mayor would make a whopping $47,000 more per year. While it moved almost effortlessly through the committee, the bill still needs to receive a final vote from the council, expected within weeks, not months.The bill, which follows a recommendation from the three-member Quadrennial Advisory Commission, would raise the mayor’s salary to $305,800 from $258,750. City Council members would see a rise to $175,500 from $148,500, and the council’s speaker would earn $194,400, up from the current $164,500. The 18.2 percent increase would also apply to the public advocate, who would earn $218,400, the comptroller whose salary would rise to $247,100, borough presidents, who would see an annual rate of $211,800, and district attorneys who would start receiving $251,500 per year.The committee’s chairwoman, Gale Brewer, a Manhattan Democrat, opened the hearing by highlighting the unusual length of the pay gap, noting the last raise was in 2016.“This 10-year gap is the longest that city officials have gone without a raise in the 40 years since the commission framework has been in place,” she said. “Mayor de Blasio failed to empanel the required commission in 2020 — maybe because of the pandemic, who knows? And Mayor Adams subsequently declined to convene one in 2024.”The Commission chairman, Carl Weisbrod, told the Council that the 18.2 percent figure reflects cost-of-living increases since January 2022, not the full decade of inflation. One inflation tracking website says the cost of living in the city since 2016 has gone up 35.3 percent while it has increased 14.5 percent since 2022.“I should note that the actual cost of living since the last increase in 2016 has been significantly higher” than the 18.2 percent proposal, Mr. Weisbrod said. “But we felt that all elected officials took office with the understanding of what their salaries would be in January 2022, and, as you know, we have gone through a period of intense inflation.”Despite being eligible for a raise, both Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the City Council speaker, Julie Menin, said they would not accept one. “The mayor has committed to not taking a pay raise during his first term,” said a Mamdani spokesman, Dora Pekec. A spokesperson for Ms. Menin confirmed that the full Council “expects to take up the issue with a vote later this summer.”The hearing also surfaced concerns over a commission recommendation that an automatic two percent annual raise take effect if the advisory panel fails to meet as required. Good-government groups warned the proposal could weaken the independent review process.“We’re concerned that eliminating the incentive to convene commissions would diminish an important mechanism for improving government,” the executive director of Citizens Union, Grace Rauh, told News12. Ms. Rauh did, however, voice support for the raise itself. “Competitive pay for an elected position means that we will get a stronger group of candidates who are willing to run for office. We think that this pay raise that has been proposed is appropriate, and we support it,” she said.

Socialism Pays: New York City Council Committee Mulls Giving Mamdani, Members Huge Raises

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