With just seven dissenters, City Council members on Friday went above the recommendations of a salary commission to award themselves a 32 percent raise — to $148,500.
That’s $10,000 more than the mayor-appointed commission had said was justified after months of extensive research, and well above the current salary of $112,500.
The three Republican members, Steve Matteo and freshman Joe Borelli of Staten Island, and Eric Ulrich of Queens, issued a joint statement explaining why they voted no.
“There is a critically important reason the City Charter requires any changes to salaries for elected officials be evaluated and ultimately recommended by an independent body: because there is an inherent and obvious conflict of interest in having to vote oneself a pay raise,” the trio said.
“We felt the salary recommendations made by the Quadrennial Commission were the starting point of a public conversation about our jobs and our compensation. However, once it became clear that the proposed legislation by the Council would go beyond those recommendations, it precluded any potential support from our delegation.”
Democrats Elizabeth Crowley of Queens and Alan Maisel of Brooklyn voted no without explanation.
Chaim Deutsch (D-Brooklyn), who earns considerable outside income, also voted no, while Paul Vallone (D-Queens), who holds an outside job as an attorney, voted against after saying he believed a reform banning outside jobs would have “unequal impact” on members.
Forty members voted yes on the measure, including Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito — whose own salary will climb even higher, to $164,500.
She said the extra pay was justified because the commission didn’t take into account one of the council’s reform measures to greatly restrict outside income.
“We believe that there’s a value that should be added to the loss of that potential outside income. It was a modest amount of $10,000, and that is what we did in terms of that consideration,” she told reporters prior to the vote.
“That’s a serious reform that is way overdue and has been demanded of this council over years and possibly decades, and so we’re taking that into account.”
Only a handful of council members, whose jobs are considered part-time, currently earn substantial pay in other gigs.
The pay hike is retroactive to Jan. 1.
Other reform measures passed by council members to justify the 32 percent pay hike will make the job full-time and eliminate committee chairmanship bonuses, known as “lulus,” of between $8,000 and $25,000.
They also increased public access to financial disclosure forms.
The vote also hikes the salary for the mayor from $225,000 to $258,750 — a 15 percent hike — and awards 12 percent pay raises to the comptroller, public advocate and other elected officials.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has said he would decline a raise during his current four-year term. He needs to sign the measure before it goes into effect.
Elected officials were last awarded raises in 2006.