NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) — New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he’ll forgo a pay increase approved by City Council members as they voted to give themselves their first salary bump in a decade.
The legislation raises salaries by 18% for the city’s elected officials, including borough presidents, district attorneys and comptroller. The 51 City Council members, who currently earn $148,500 a year, will now receive $175,500. The mayor’s annual salary jumps to $305,800 even though Mamdani said he wouldn’t take it.
“I will not accept a pay raise,” the mayor said at a news conference Thursday, repeating an earlier pledge. “I haven’t knocked on anyone’s door in New York City and they’ve said their concern is that the mayor makes too little.”
Council members hadn’t received a pay raise since 2016 and the increase is intended to help keep up with inflation. The price level has risen 31% over the past decade, according to a quadrennial commission empaneled earlier this year by Mamdani. The commission recommended the raises, and Mamdani is expected to sign the measure, which was approved 42-6 by the City Council.
The bill would raise annual salaries for a variety of elected positions:
- For district attorneys to $251,500 from $212,800
- For comptroller, to $247,100 from $209,050
- For public advocate, to $218,400 from $184,800
- For borough presidents, to $211,800 from $179,200
The new salaries take effect in 45 days and will be retroactive to the start of this calendar year. City Council Speaker Julie Menin, who like Mamdani was recently elected to her post, has also said she will not accept a salary increase during her current term in office. Menin abstained from voting on the bill.
The raises are expected to cost the city $2.6 million this year and $17 million next year, according to the Council’s analysis.
The Council’s decision to raise its own pay comes as Mamdani faces the prospect of negotiating dozens of soon-to-expire labor contracts with New York’s roughly 300,000 employees — and as the city faces multibillion-dollar deficits over the next four years.
Private-sector workers in New York have experienced slow growth in their household incomes compared to inflation, according to state comptroller Tom DiNapoli. Between 2019-2024, inflation rose about 23%, while real median household income decreased by 2.4% in Manhattan, 3.5% on Staten Island and 1.3% in the Bronx. Only Queens and Brooklyn recorded increases in real median household incomes, with gains of 1.9% and 8.3%, respectively.
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