As Election Day approaches, members of the Boston City Council could get a 14 percent pay raise by leaving a proposal by Boston Mayor Martin Walsh untouched.
Walsh proposed the raise on Sep. 2, which would increase salaries from $87,500 to $99,500 and increase the maximum mayor’s salary from $175,000 to $199,000.
City Councilor Timothy McCarthy, who represents Hyde Park and Roslindale, said the reason the matter has remained untouched is because the pay raise discussion eclipses the Council’s other focuses, such as opioid addiction and police body cameras.
“For the past several months, talk about this raise has dominated the public discourse,” McCarthy wrote in an email. “It has overshadowed the good and credible work of this body.”
In 2014, Walsh vetoed a $20,000 salary hike up to $107,500, which the council voted in favor of 9-4, The Daily Free Press reported on Dec. 11, 2014. Most recently, Council President Bill Linehan proposed an ordinance to raise salaries to $105,000.
Historically, the council has been paid 50 percent of the mayor’s salary, so the proposal sustains that proportion, wrote Gabrielle Farrell, a spokeswoman for Walsh, in an email. A compensation advisory board was first convened in 2006 “to address potential gaps in compensation level,” she said.
“Appointed Board members convened in November 2014 and over the following months conducted a wide-ranging compensation and salary analysis relative to the salaries of the City Council and the City of Boston Compensation Advisory Board,” Farrell said.
After being disbanded from 2006 to 2013, the board was reconstituted in November 2014 in response to Walsh’s promise to work closer with City Council. The mayor issued recommendations in a “data-driven and comprehensive analysis way,” the FreeP reported on Nov. 19, 2014.
Samuel Tyler, president of the fiscal watchdog group Boston Municipal Research Bureau, said Walsh’s proposed salary increase is greater than that recommended by the appointed board. The Mayor didn’t disagree with the board, but rather increased the salary in hopes of resolving the issue so councilors could get back to work, he said.
“There are those who are upset with the council and those who are convinced they deserve the $99,500,” Tyler said. “The right approach for the council was to accept the City of Boston Compensation Advisory Board’s recommendation, vote on it, and move on.”
Voting on a pay raise is not easy for a legislative body, McCarthy said. It’s not people in the district who have a problem with the pay raises, but the councilors, he said.
“In all the meetings I’ve had in my district, with all the people I’ve met with across the city, most people appreciate what we do and they don’t begrudge us a periodic pay raise,” McCarthy said. “However, the way this issue is being handled has become offensive to people. It is time to move forward.”
Councilors Sal LaMatinna and Charles Yancey declined to comment.
Several residents said councilors and the mayor should be adequately compensated for their work.
Tonia Campbell, 24, of East Boston, said the solution to making pay raises is not the Compensation Advisory Board, but a popular vote.
“I think everyone should get a vote on it if [the Councilors] are getting more money. We should be aware about it,” Campbell said. “They got voted in. People should be able to vote if they’re getting raises, because that’s coming out of our money too.”
Jack O’Keefe, 55, of Brighton said he feels differently, and thinks Walsh could use the pay raise.
“I think he deserves [a raise]. He’s done a pretty good job,” O’Keefe said. “Things are running smooth, no controversies.”
Editor-in-Chief. Bostonian by way of Indiana. Excessive Instagrammer. Seltzer addict. Journalism junkie, storytelling fiend.
