Watchdog Groups Oppose Rushed Council Pay Hike: Electeds Should Receive Fair Raise Through Outside Review Process
Council Members Will Break with Half a Century of Precedent if They Increase Their Own Salaries Without Recommendations from an Independent Compensation Commission
New York, NY (December 16, 2025) — Citizens Union, Common Cause NY, New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG), and Reinvent Albany, today called the New York City Council to pause its last-minute effort to increase the salaries of city elected officials.
The watchdog groups are urging lawmakers to follow the long-standing tradition of using an independent compensation commission to review proper salary levels, which has been in use in New York City since the 1970s. The organizations are each submitting testimony to the City Council for today’s public hearing on Intro 1493-2025 (Williams), a bill to increase the compensation of the mayor, public advocate, council members, borough presidents, comptroller and district attorneys by 16%. The legislation under consideration proposes to make new salary increases retroactive to January 1, 2026, even if the bill is approved after that date.
Every increase in elected officials’ salaries over the past fifty years has been enacted after an independent commission of experts reviewed compensation levels and offered recommendations. If the council moves forward with legislation to raise its own pay without a commission, that would be a dramatic and alarming departure from the historic commitment to independent review.
In her testimony, Grace Rauh, Executive Director of Citizens Union, calls on the Council to pursue their long-awaited salary bump through an honest, transparent and credible process. “The current proposal breaks with precedent, offers no supporting analysis for the proposed 16 percent pay increase, and is being advanced in an eleventh-hour manner to work around the very clear prohibition in the City Charter that bars the council from raising its own pay during a lame duck period like the one we are in. If the Council moves ahead with this legislation it will undermine public trust and create a troubling precedent. The Council has better options.”
In her testimony, Rachael Fauss, Senior Policy Advisor at Reinvent Albany, urges the City Council to create a better compensation commission process, with representation from all NYC elected officials – and use it. It also calls the Council not to use today’s hearing to allow legislation to move forward in 2026 without a hearing as a pre-considered resolution. “Having today’s hearing suffice for this important Charter requirement deprives incoming City Council members who have not yet taken office from hearing the perspectives of the public and asking questions about the merits of any increases or proposals to reform the compensation commission structure.”
Samantha Sanchez, Program Manager at Common Cause NY, said “Common Cause NY does not oppose fair and reasonable compensation for public officials. Indeed, we worked for years to affect the last pay raise which the Council received in 2016. And, generally, we support an effort to review and increase salaries, which has not been undertaken for the last 10 years. However, we oppose advancing salary increases without review and recommendation from an independent compensation commission.”
Blair Horner, Senior Policy Advisor to the New York Public Interest Research Group, said in its testimony to the Council “In order to cut to the chase, NYPIRG urges you to reject Int. No. 1493. The proposal allows you to short circuit a time-tested way in which compensation levels have been set. Simply put, don’t do it.”
Click here to view the original press release on Citizens Union’s website.
Click here to see the press release as a PDF.