The City Council is planning to vote on giving its members and other local elected officials — including the mayor — pay raises in the final days of this year’s legislative session, the Daily News has learned.
Councilwoman Nantasha Williams, a Democrat who represents a slice of southeastern Queens, plans to introduce a bill Tuesday that would enact the raises, according to three sources familiar with the matter. Exact details of the legislation weren’t immediately known, but one of the sources said it’s likely to be modeled on a compounded 16% cost of living increase that municipal workers recently received retroactively over a five-year period.
Williams told The News on Sunday that her bill’s proposed raises would bump Council members’ salaries to about $172,500.
New York City
Barry Williams for New York Daily News
New York City Councilwoman Nantasha Williams speaks during a press conference on Thursday, May 11, 2023, in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams for New York Daily News)
That would be up more than $24,000 compared to the roughly $148,000 that Council members currently collect annually. They last got pay bumps in 2016.
The mayor currently makes about $258,000, while the public advocate pulls in about $184,000 and the city comptroller earns roughly $210,000. Borough presidents, who are also expected to be impacted by any raises enacted by the Council, make around $180,000 per year.
It was not immediately clear what salary levels the other elected officials would see under the proposed new system.
Williams’ move comes after outgoing Mayor Eric Adams has failed to comply with a law that requires the mayor to impanel a commission every four years to study whether pay increases are warranted for local elected officials. It was not immediately clear if Williams’ bill will have any commission component to it.
Williams said the hope is to have the Council vote on her bill at the chamber’s last full meeting of the year, scheduled for Dec. 18, and that the taxpayer-funded raises would then kick in next year.
While there’s wide support for the measure in the Council, Mayor Adams — who dumped his reelection bid amid fallout from his corruption indictment — is not inclined to sign any pay-raise bill that makes it to his desk before he leaves office at the end of 2025, according to his spokeswoman Orchida Harizaj.
“Any six-figure-paid Council member attempting to push through a pay raise for themselves between the holidays, when New Yorkers are not focused on the inner workings of government, should be ashamed,” Harizaj said. “New Yorkers deserve transparency, accountability and leadership that puts their needs first.”
Harizaj did not say if Adams would try to veto any pay-raise bill that passes before the end of the year. The Council has the power to override mayoral vetoes.
A number of local politicians who are leaving office at the end of the year, including the mayor, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, Comptroller Brad Lander and a long list of term-limited Council members, would not enjoy the raises if they take effect first next year. Incoming Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who takes office Jan. 1, would see the raise reflected in his salary, as would Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
Councilwoman Williams, who would also get the pay raise since she will remain in the Council next year, already has roughly 30 co-sponsors lined up for the bill, and Speaker Adams is not expected to oppose it, likely meaning it’s on a glide path to pass the chamber, sources said.
A rep for Speaker Adams said he couldn’t comment on a bill that hasn’t been introduced yet.