Waste of the Day: Plan Would Give NYC Officials Raise

Topline: New York City Councilwoman Nantasha Williams introduced a bill on Nov. 25 that would give a 16% pay raise to city council members, the mayor and other top NYC officials.

Do NYC officials deserve the raise they are about to vote themselves?

Williams hopes the council will pass the bill in January, according to the New York Post. If that happens, one of mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s first decisions in office will be to either veto the bill or give himself a pay raise.

Key facts: NYC’s 51 council members currently make $148,500, which ranked fifth-highest out of America’s 15 largest cities as of 2024, according to the Pew Charitable Trust. The proposed raises would bump their pay up to $172,500. That would make New York rank third, with only San Diego and Los Angeles paying more.

Councilmembers’ last raise was in 2016, when the raise was coupled with a ban on outside income.

The NYC mayor earns $258,000, which ranks third in the country behind San Francisco and Los Angeles, according to Prestige Magazine. A 16% pay raise would make Mamdani’s salary nearly $300,000, which would still rank third. 

Mamdani made $142,500 per year as a state assemblyman before he resigned to run for mayor. 

The bill would also increase the city comptroller’s pay from $210,000 to $243,600. The public advocate’s salary would go from $184,000 to over $213,000, and the five borough presidents would go from $180,000 to almost $209,000.

The vote must take place during the next mayor’s term

Williams originally wanted the council to vote on the bill on Dec. 18, while current NYC Mayor Eric Adams is still in office. She apparently didn’t check the city charter, which bars voting on pay raises during the transitional period between election day and Jan. 1. 

Search all federal, state and local salaries and vendor spending with the world’s largest government spending database at OpenTheBooks.com. 

Background: Even if Mamdani does approve a pay raise for himself, he will be far from the highest-paid NYC employee. There were 548 city workers that made more than $300,000 in 2024, according to Open the Books’ data.

Seventeen of the engineers running the Staten Island ferry each made over $1 million, due to years worth of back pay. A plumber made almost $364,000, including $235,000 of overtime. There were 1,845 people who made six figures from overtime alone.

Summary: Mamdani’s campaign was based on making New York affordable, and there is no better way than limiting the size and cost of the city’s bureaucracy. 

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com. 

This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.