One of the biggest winners in the City Council race involving Bronx Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo was her son, public records show.
Ricardo Aguirre Jr. scored more than $55,000 working as a campaign consultant for Arroyo’s campaign between March 2012 and October 2013.
The hefty payout consumed half of the $102,256 in private funds raised by the third-term Democrat, who was also awarded more than $64,000 in public matching grants.
“The $55,000 was paid to the son for record-keeping compliance, and it’s been publicly disclosed,” said Arroyo aide Michael Drezin.
He said the 30-year-old is on contract with the campaign through Dec. 31.
The city’s Campaign Finance Board forbids family members and their spouses from being paid with public funds — but otherwise allows them to be on campaign payrolls.
Arroyo reclaimed her council seat handily, beating challenger Julio Pabon 69 to 31 percent in the Democratic primary. She won the general election with 93 percent of the vote.
“It would be up to the voters to weigh in on such expenditures, admittedly a hard thing to do in a non-competitive race,” said Gene Russianoff of the New York Public Interest Research Group.
Arroyo’s familial ties have come under scrutiny in the past, most notably when nephew Richard Izquierdo pleaded guilty to stealing $115,000 from a Bronx non-profit.
He had diverted an additional $5,000 to hire summer interns for the offices of Arroyo and her mother — Bronx Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo — although neither of the Arroyos was implicated.
Izquierdo had also funneled funds toward campaign contributions and new flooring for Carmen Arroyo’s office, according to authorities.
Arroyo isn’t the first council member to employ a family member in an non-competitive race.
Former Bronx Councilman Larry Seabrook paid out roughly $43,000 to his brother in 2005 to serve as a re-election “consultant.”
Seabrook won that race with 87 percent of the vote.
Seven years later, Seabrook was convicted of diverting more than $1 million in taxpayer funds into his own pocket and sentenced to five years in federal prison.
In 2003, long-shot candidate Abraham Wasserman finished last in a four-way council race in Brooklyn, earning a meager 368 votes.
But his wife and sons were among the consultants to whom his campaign paid out $29,000.