{"id":72785,"date":"2025-12-16T23:27:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T23:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/72785\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T23:27:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T23:27:09","slug":"nyc-council-11th-hour-push-on-pay-raises-blasted-as-flawed-sparks-backlash-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/72785\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC council \u201911th hour\u2019 push on pay raises blasted as flawed, sparks backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York City Council\u2019s efforts to push through a pay raise for themselves<\/a> is facing backlash from good government groups, who criticized the legislation as \u201cflawed\u201d at a hearing on the bill on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The bill<\/a>, which would give councilmembers and other elected officials a 16% raise<\/a>, was introduced by Councilmember Nantasha Williams in November with the aim to fast-track it by getting aspects of the legislative process out of the way so it could be re-introduced as a pre-considered motion in the new year.<\/p>\n

But good government watchdogs warned against moving forward in \u201can 11th hour manner\u201d and said the optics of the councilmembers handing themselves a pay bump were troubling.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe approach that you all are considering undermines public trust and creates a troubling precedent,\u201d Grace Rauh, executive director of Citizens Union<\/a>, told the Council\u2019s Governmental Operations Committee on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

New York City elected officials last got a raise in 2016. In addition to city council members, the 16% pay bump would include the mayor, comptroller, public advocate, borough presidents and district attorneys.<\/p>\n

Rauh urged the Council to either call on Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani to convene a commission to look at raising pay or to establish a new law giving other elected officials the power to do so. The bill would grant the pay raise before a commission was brought together.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t look right for the City Council to be acting in its own self interest,\u201d Rauh said. \u201cWe\u2019re also at a period where democratic norms have been eroded nationally and in Washington, and so we\u2019re quite concerned about declining trust in government.\u201d<\/p>\n

Incoming Council Speaker Julie Menin, who\u2019s not a sponsor of the bill, has likewise expressed hesitancy about the legislation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe the Commission is the best pathway forward and the current bill involves convening the Commission but I look forward to working with my colleagues on this issue,\u201d Menin said Tuesday. \u201cWe can review this matter expeditiously in the next session.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams<\/a> told the Daily News she\u2019s spoken with Menin about the legislation and potential changes in approach, but that she wanted to ensure elected officials get a pay raise as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m currently having conversations about many different options, I think it\u2019s possible,\u201d Williams said of the possibility of re-introducing the bills with a commission component. \u201cI think it takes partnership with colleagues and the incoming speaker.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lincoln Restler, chair of the committee, rebuffed the idea that a commission was necessary during the hearing: \u201cWe don\u2019t need an in-depth study and a 170 page report to understand basic facts,\u201d Restler said of the need for pay raises, noting higher pay could help attract a more diverse council body.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York City Council\u2019s efforts to push through a pay raise for themselves is facing backlash from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[37002,22774,19077,15381,9,1057,56,63,65,64,29033,28543],"class_list":["post-72785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-citizens-union","tag-elected-officials","tag-julie-menin","tag-nantasha-williams","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city-council","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-pay-raise","tag-pay-raises"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}