Hey, there! Log in / Register
Wu vetoes pay raises for self, city councilors that are higher than what she first proposed
By adamg on Tue, 10/18/2022 - 12:35pm
Mayor Wu has vetoed a City Council measure that would have given councilors and her higher raises than she initially proposed.
In her veto message, Wu wrote the 21% increases - from $103,500 to $125,000 for councilors and from $207,000 to $250,000 for the mayor - were out of line compared to the raises her administration has been negotiating with "front line" workers.
Like all our workers, our elected officials should receive salary increases, but they should square with the increases that our frontline workers have received and are receiving in the contracts that we continue to settle.
When councilors approved the increases - which would not go into effect until after the next elections - they said they stood in solidarity with city workers and would push for even higher wage increases for them, rather than accepting Wu's initial proposal for more modest increases for elected officials.
Wu's initial proposal was to increase councilor pay to $115,000 and the mayor's pay to $230,000.
The increases for elected officials in either case would no go into effect until after the next elections - 2023 for councilors and 2025 for the mayor.
Neighborhoods:
Topics:
Free tagging:
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 Wu's veto message | 52.96 KB |
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
Good for Wu!
I’m liking her more and more. 21% was ridiculous and she agrees.
You realize
At the end of the day she still proposed to give herself and the CC a raise.
The CC being out of touch (shocking) and greedy, gave Wu political cover.
You bought it by your comment. Win Win for Wu, fools votes like yourself and she still get a raise, assuming only 25% of Boston votes again next election cycle.
What's the insinuation here?
That councilors nor the mayor should ever get raises? Should not wages increase over years as things get more expensive, including accounting for inflation? Would you take any job that never got a raise? If yes, why? If you or many others don't get raises routinely, even small yearly adjustments, that's not an argument that you shouldn't be getting them.
So COLA raises are bad?
GTFO - demanding that public jobs stay at a fixed income during a time of inflation is some weird ass, right wing viewpoint.
A salary for $125k for a
A salary for $125k for a councilor is not ridiculous. The median salary for employees working at City Hall is probably around $105k.
What I wonder about how much Wu is motivated by politics (politicians always score points voting against raises for themselves) versus actually being motivated by having a stronger position with city employee unions which are all trying negotiate to get high raises.
How do you feel about the Baker’s salary?
You’d think the governor of MA would make more than the mayor of Boston. Even before this raise, the mayor makes more than the governor.
See:
My other comment elsewhere that basically states, if someone makes more than you, that's not a persuasive argument that you or they should make less. In fact, maybe you're making a convincing argument that the governor should receive a higher compensation.
Honestly
that salary probably partly explains why our last few governors have all been former top execs with substantial personal wealth.
Wow
Props to her
Boo Wu.
All City workers should get a 21% raise. Sign it now!
This is all because she doesn
This is all because she doesn’t want to give the cops the same raise she gave the teachers. She cannot, by any means, be seen as remotely pro police. She knows this and this is why this is happening. If she lets their contract go to arbitration, she can then say “oh well I tried”, shrug it off and move on.
Most city workers have union contracts
The city council and mayor haven't had a raise since 2018 and these proposed raises won't kick in until 2024 for the council and 2026 for the mayor. You can't exactly compare that to people who are getting set raises every year based on a negotiated contract.
Worth emphasizing!
And if you annualize the increases Wu requested, they work out to 2.67% for councilors, and 1.77% for the Mayor. These are not excessive salary adjustments.
Exactly
All the "I wish I could get a twenty percent raise!" harping comes from people who most likely get a couple of percent increase every year.
Private Companies
Private companies base their raises on an employees performance review. Using my company as an example, a Meets Expectations gets a 2.5% raise, Exceeds Expectations get 3% and Outstanding (nearly unheard of) gets a 5% raise.
Based on that, what would your review of city council be, and how much of a raise do you think they should get?
Did you see the comment above?
Where I've worked the raise was usually split with 1/3 being the performance of the entire corporation, 1/3 the performance of your division/site/OpU and only 1/3 being individual performance (and in a small, effective department everyone gets the same because the increase for the site was set and meant the department got a set increase which meant that if you give one person more someone else has to get a lower raise).
Since councilors and the mayor do not get an annual raise it works out as being equivalent to a +/- 2% a year salary increase. How does that not seem reasonable?
They also don't have a bonus structure which is fairly common in the corporate world and can make a big difference.
How does that not seem reasonable?
Simple, in my opinion, they have not met or exceeded expectations YOY. It’s been a Needs Improvement at best.
You don’t get a raise for just existing in a position.
Edit: Also, why should councilors elected in 2020 or 2021 be eligible for the raise?
Elections are a kind of performance review
They're not.
The raises don't take effect until after the next election, 2024 for city council and 2026 for mayor. If the councilors or mayor are not meeting expectations in the view of the voters they will not get the raise.
salaries for elected officials
can you point us to an official rubric for performance evaluation? if not, then “Needs Improvement” is subjective, isn’t it?
further, these salaries exist in part to minimize the city councilmembers’ exposure to outside influence.
The way this process works is so backwards
They vote on what they want as a pay increase. Why not tie it to yearly inflation?
Bad, bad boyars.
Bad, bad boyars.