State lawmakers call for pay raises

Northwest Bronx politicians have reiterated their support for a pay raise for state lawmakers, responding to an appeal by state Governor Andrew Cuomo to demand bigger paychecks for legislators ahead of the November election.

The call came after a July 26 hearing by the State Commission for Judicial, Legislative and Executive Compensation on whether state lawmakers deserved a raise. The commission proposed a raise of between 42 percent and 47 percent, an increase that would bring legislators’ annual salaries to about $117,000. 

Mr. Cuomo urged lawmakers who missed the meeting to publicly advocate a raise. The increase, if granted, would be the first since 1999, when lawmakers’ salaries were raised to $79,500. 

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz said he would be glad to see a bigger paycheck – something he has been calling for during the past couple of years. 

“Like anybody else we hope to get a pay raise,” he said in an Aug. 9 interview. “I believe any reasonably minded person would agree that after not getting a pay raise for 18 years, a strict cost of living increase is warranted.”

State Sen. Gustavo Rivera called for a raise on Aug. 10, while also urging a limit on outside income.

“I am lucky in this regard, I’m not married, I don’t have kids, I don’t have a mortgage but there are some who are married,” he said. “$79,500 is fine, but when you can make six figures in the private sector, there’s a lot of things that keep people from wanting to do the job with as much commitment as we would like.”

The state also needs to set limits, similar to those in Congress, on the amount of outside income lawmakers can receive, Mr. Rivera said. 

“I believe that we should be a full-time legislature, that we should have limits on outside income and that [pay] should be tagged to inflation,” he said. “In my case, for example I teach part-time, I do one class or two classes a year … that’s not like being an attorney or being a consultant or what have you; those are the ones we have to make sure that we do get rid of.”

While Mr. Dinowitz and Mr. Rivera both argued the pay raises were needed to keep up with the cost of living, the current legislative salary is $10,000 more than the average income of people in the northwest Bronx. The median income in the borough as a whole is $34,284, according to U.S. Census data. 

“I would say that anybody who is against a pay raise of a bare minimum of [a cost of living adjustment] is just not a reasonable or fair person,” Mr. Dinowitz said. “I would suggest that if there are legislators or officials who have spoken out against the raise, they shouldn’t accept it, they should donate any extra money to the charity of their choice. Of course, I’m sure that’s not how it’s going to happen.”