Breaking down 90 years of pay raises for New York City Council members

The New York City Council is ruffling some feathers with a plan to boost the salaries of its members to $172,500 next year, from the current base pay of $148,500. They’re in good company – there is a long history of controversial pay raises in the council.

Raises for members were initially met with public outcry and seen as an elitist waste of money at the beginning of the modern council’s history after the 1938 City Charter. The legislative body came into the form we know today after the 1989 City Charter dissolved the Board of Estimate and the council expanded to 51 members.

Here’s what City Council members have been paid in base salary since 1939, including in raw dollars and accounting for inflation.

1939 – New York City Council members start out making $5,000 per year. Mayor Fiorello La Guardia asked city employees making $5,000-$10,000 to take a 5% salary cut to help balance the city budget; this was put into effect later in the year, temporarily bringing their salary down to $4,750.

1949 – A proposed $2,500 raise meets plenty of backlash. A Dec. 2 editorial in The New York Times argues that better pay for council members will “buy more work from present members, add a bit to the dignity of the office and eventually attract abler men and women to the Council.” It passes, albeit reduced to $2,000 for a new salary of $7,000.

1961 – A bill to increase salaries from $7,000 to $10,000 passes. 

1969 – A bill doubling salaries to $20,000 passes. “Politics should not be a plaything for the rich,” Finance Committee Chair Mario Merola says in support of the move.

1977 – A bill is introduced and widely supported in the council to increase salaries to $30,000, but public outcry proves more intense than council members had expected. They withdraw the bill. New York is in the throes of a fiscal crisis and contract negotiations with city unions are looming.

1979 – A commission to study salary levels of New York City elected officials recommends a pay increase to $35,000 by 1980, which later becomes law. It also recommends that the mayor and council study “the advisability of making council membership a ‘full-time’ position.”

1983 – Another commission suggests a raise to $47,500, which later becomes law.

1986 – The council passes Local Law 77 establishing the Quadrennial Advisory Commission for the Review of Compensation Levels of Elected Officials: a three-person panel convened every four years to assess salaries. It was convened in 1987, 1991, 1995, 1999, 2006 and 2015.

1987 – New York City Council members salaries increase to $55,000, but nearly every member is getting a lulu – extra payments given to leaders or committee chairs – to further increase their salary.

1989 – No raises, but a charter revision overhauls the city’s government with a plan to eliminate the Board of Estimate and divvy up its responsibilities (land use, zoning, budget, contracts and more) to the council and mayor, and expand the council from 35 to 51 members. It’s a pivotal moment.

1995 – A pay raise to $70,500 moves through.

1999 – A pay raise to $90,000 passes.

2006 – A raise to $112,500, suggested by a mayoral commission, is signed into law. That commission (again) suggests that future committees should consider making council members’ jobs full-time. They also call for reform on the issue of lulus.

2016 – A pay raise to $148,500 passes 40-7, with the agreement that committee leaders give up their lulus. Other reforms passed in the same sweep included banning most outside income, which officially made the position a full-time job.

2026 – Next year, the City Council will likely propose a raise to $172,500.