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City Council gives itself a raise
By adamg on Wed, 10/28/2015 - 1:00pm
The City Council today approved Mayor Walsh's proposal to increase members' pay almost 14%, to $99,500, starting Jan. 1.
Councilors Ayanna Pressley (at large) Michelle Wu (at large), Charles Yancey (Dorchester) and Josh Zakim (Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Mission Hill, Fenway) voted against.
Councilor Matt O'Malley (Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury), who had voted against an earlier pay raise, said he would vote for this raise as a compromise - Council President Bill Linehan has urged a six-figure salary - but said that he and Pressley would file a proposed ordinance to link councilor pay to the average household income of Boston residents going forward.
O'Malley said the whole pay issue, which has dragged out for more than a year, is uncomfortable for councilors and unfair to voters. Pegging council salaries to the what constituents make - as he said the state legislature does - would end that, he said.
The council had initially figured to take no action on Walsh's proposal, which would have made it go into effect automatically, but Councilor Michael Flaherty, whose committee had oversight of the proposal, said he was bringing it to a vote to be fair to residents.
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Comments
Interesting
interesting to see who voted no... seems like all the councilors that are the ones who do the most work for their constituents. Funny how that is.....
Will we see more work out of the ones who voted yes? Nah.... Will we see more work out of the ones who voted no, probably...
How is it
That they run for re-election mostly uncontested? Are residents really that happy ?
Harder for
non-incumbents to get elected. But please consider Annissa Essaibi George, business owner, mother of 4, teacher, Dorchester resident, who is running at large and would be a tremendous asset to the City Council (and actually show up for education hearings, unlike Flaherty and Murphy).
and actually show up for education hearings!
How do you know that?
She might be preoccupied running a business, teaching and raising 4 kids!
easy
because she has already shown that she cares about doing a good job unlike Stephen Murphy who has definitely shown over 18 years that his only skill set seems to be getting the owners of rental apartment buildings to put up his signs.
I've yet to see a private residence in Roslindale with a Murphy sign, but he's got some slum lord backers I guess based on the crummy triple deckers with Murphy signs on them.
YA because shes
Running for a $100K paycheck! Once she has it, who's to say she stays as involved.
All i'm saying is you're speculating and making a statement based off your personal bias.
Correct!
My personal bias is I'd rather have an unknown person who appears to have drive and work ethic vs some hack who lives in Florida in the winter, has a proven track record of not attending meetings and thinks he has to park in an undisclosed location due to ISIS or whatever.
Essabi-George may or may not be good, but we already know Murphy is bad, why not gamble on a positive improvement?
Maybe now that the salary is higher...
...more people will run. I expect a large number to run in the next election.
I also planned on standing outside of South Station handing out stickers with my name and running as a "write in candidate". I'd like a raise too.
Can't speak for other districts
But Zakim does a very good job - and his vote on this is indicative of that.
It's rare for me to be a fan of politicians - but our district has pretty good representation:
Zakim
Walsh (not perfect, but I think he's doing a good job on several fronts)
Livingstone
Brownsberger
Baker
Personally these days I'm pretty happy with my local and state officials, although I'd be less thrilled elsewhere and Murphy isn't getting any love from me next week.
That was my thought, too
Though I've also had great responses from Matt O'Malley.
I really like the idea of tying it to Boston average income.
The problem with tying it to average income
"The Council today approved a fast-track plan wherein a developer only has to say 'luxury housing' and the Eminentdomanmobile will tear down existing apartment buildings while providing displaced residents with a one-way shuttle to Brockton"
oh hell
Michael, where's the quote from?
Didn't they reject because
Didn't they reject because they wanted more?
No
No
O'Malley said he would vote for this raise as a compromise
O, okay then. Thanks for "compromising" councilor.
Does this mean other city
Does this mean other city employees apart from police, fire, teachers, and the mayor going to get a raise as well?
Yes
Ask other city employees if they've gotten raises in the past 10 years. You might be surprised by their responses.
Finally!
Thank God justice was done. These heroes of City Hall deserve every penny! I mean, how does one expect Steve Murphy to eat while fighting for his political life. One can't be charging one's campaign fund weekly $300 dinners at Ruths Chris while trying to retain his seat...that man needs a raise!
Murphy venn diagram
I think a Venn diagram of Murphy supporters and UHub (non-anon) posters would be two non-overlapping circles.
I wish the middle class could
I wish the middle class could give themselves a raise to because I need one. I don't even make half as much as these city councilors do and I work more than they do and struggle more as well.
Traitors...
I mean that. These cretins give themselves a 14% pay raise while the miltary gets almost nothing for a pay increase. Yeah, I know. These are city employees and not federal. But it's disgusting that a bunch of do-nothing elected officials think that they can just keep giving themselves more money while those who are truly serving get the shaft.
Raising salaries to "$99,500"
Raising salaries to "$99,500" and not simply "$100,000" reveals the cynicism of those involved.
Flaherty
His office can't be bothered to pick up the phone today. Don't want to hear from angry constitutents?
Council Notices... NOT SEARCHABLE !
Council Communications are kept out of reach by failure to format Public Notices in SEARCHABLE format. For example Public Notices of Council Committee Hearings aren't in SEARCHABLE format.
Not very courageous to vote
Not very courageous to vote "no" when you know the thing has got the votes to pass. I'll bet they cash every one of those paychecks.
I think that's an overly
I think that's an overly cynical view of this issue. So even if someone like O'Malley was genuinely against a pay raise, you would advise him to vote "yes" simply because he'd be in the minority anyway? Anyone who knows Matt O'Malley knows that he works for every penny he earns - that dude is EVERYWHERE. He knows the issues, he works hard for the constituents of his district, and he's one of the good guys (which is more than I can say about hacks like Murphy). At least under his proposal (with Pressley) councilor salaries would be tied to a figure that makes sense - average resident income - and not just some arbitrary amount.
I will only vote for the city
I will only vote for the city councilors who voted against a pay hike and I urge everyone else to do the same. The taxes and fees keep going up but not the average citizens. These councilors out to be a shame of themselves. Let's vote them out!