In Support of a Pay Raise for New York Politicians

Citizens Union has come out in support of the proposed legislative pay increase and outside compensation restrictions for New York City and State government. The proposed changes were detailed in a recent report by the New York State Compensation Committee. Democratic Assemblyman Thomas Thomas Abinanti, elected to represent the 92nd Assembly District in November 2010, said following the report’s release, “This is a serious policy discussion that should be conducted by the Legislature with public input. Not by a committee that has no power to make law.”

But, as has been seen around the world, many times it turns out that paying civil servants adequately can reduce their incentive for corruption. Citizens Union, a ‘leading good government group’ in New York, has taken the view that the new proposals will do just that. The proposal would in effect give state lawmakers their first pay raise in twenty years. According to Citizens Union:

New Yorkers deserve a highly professional state government. In order to attract the best, brightest, and most independent to public service, elected officials need to be compensated fairly for the work they do.

For years, Citizens Union has advocated for greater pay for legislators to reflect that the office is a full-time job and to limit legislators’ need to seek outside compensation. We have also long supported significantly limiting the outside compensation of legislators, which would make elected officials more directly accountable to the public that elected them and the taxpayers that pay their salaries.

Citizens Union supports the Compensation Committee’s proposals and, while it is unclear whether recommendations regarding outside compensation and stipends for legislators are binding, we urge the legislature to remove any doubt by promptly passing those restrictions in the new session.

A decision has yet to be made. City Comptroller Scott Stringer was quoted too. He said, “We want to make sure that there is a reasonable compensation. We’d like to see reform as well. But right now we are taking information.” It was a typical politicians response.