The outrageous money grab by the Boston City Council is an insult to all hard working residents of the city who are struggling and don’t have the power to give themselves a pay raise.
Mayor Michelle Wu should immediately reject this shameful act by overpaid and underworked city councilors.
Wu herself gave the council an opening for the pay raise by proposing to increase their annual salary from $103,500 to $115,000 after the next municipal election — but little did she know councilors would nearly double that on Wednesday and make it a whopping 125 grand.
That’s a 20% pay hike all in one fell swoop. When’s the last time you got a 20% raise?
The change also hikes the mayoral pay by double that, as per statute, so that will jump from $207,000 to $250,000 after the next election in 2025. Wu herself did not ask for that large an increase, she originally proposed the next mayor get a bump to $230,000.
Councilors and the mayor have done nothing to justify this huge pay hike. The position of city councilor doesn’t even have to be full time — all they do is show up every Wednesday for a meeting and go to a few hearings a month.
Council President Ed Flynn — whose father Ray, the former mayor, would never have let pathetic councilors get away with this — shut down any debate on the council floor on Wednesday.
The only councilors allowed to speak were Flynn and Ruthzee Louijeune, both of whom were in favor of the massive pay spike.
Behind closed doors, some councilors had advocated for even higher amounts, according to Herald reporter Sean Philip Cotter.
Hey, what’s an extra few thousand dollars, right?
In addition to elected officials, the council also granted steep pay hikes to administrators and top officials like the police commissioner and fire commissioner.
Now it’s up to Wu to veto this pay hike package. She should at least be thinking of constituents who don’t have the power to give themselves a raise, and living paycheck to paycheck with no hope of a raise.
Don’t hold your breath.
Wu is a former city council member herself — that’s how she got her start in city government.
She is extremely popular and won’t be up for reelection for another few years anyway, so by that time voters will have forgotten this shameful pay grab.
And it pays to have city councilors on the mayor’s side. Then Wu won’t have to listen to complaints about her budget from the likes of Ed Flynn.
Councilors should be thanking Wu for giving them the opening to grab a higher salary.
It’s all one big happy, and much richer, family.
