Boston city councilors’ quest for six-figure salaries: a timeline
City Council President Bill Linehan and other councilors have pushed for close to a year to get their salaries into the six-figures—against the objections of some of their peers and Mayor Marty Walsh. The council is expected to take the issue up again this week.
Here’s a quick look at how the issue has evolved since last September.
Sept. 11, 2014: Linehan pitches a council pay raise. Under the terms he describes to The Boston Globe, the raise could mean a $21,000 per year boost from the existing salary of $87,500. He calls it a “moderate increase.’’
Sept. 15: Linehan formally puts forth the ordinance—but it calls for a $25,000 raise.
Oct. 7: Walsh says he will veto a $25,000 increase. (The State Ethics Commission also is also poking around the proposal by this point.)
Oct. 8: Councilors adjust their hopes, suggesting a $20,000 raise. Referring to news media critics of the plan, Councilor Stephen Murphy says the new proposal should “shut them up.’’ (It doesn’t.) “In my mind, public service should not be a subscription to poverty,’’ says Councilor Tito Jackson. The measure passes, 9-4, with councilors Ayanna Pressley, Josh Zakim, Michelle Wu, and Matt O’Malley voting no.
Oct. 24:Walsh vetoes the raise. He says he will appoint a board to look at the council’s work and consider an appropriate salary hike.
July 28, 2015: The Compensation Advisory Board suggests city councilors should indeed get a raise—of about $9,500. That would put salaries at $97,000. The board’s 150-plus-page report measures Boston’s salaries against those of other similar cities. It finds that “very little data suggest that either the mayor or the coucil’s current salaries are manifestly incorrect,’’ but suggests the 11 percent raise anyway due to cost of living increases since the last time pay rose, in 2006.
August 20: Linehan and other councilors tear into the advisory board, faulting its methodology and saying they feel disrespected. “We are undervalued and your report devalued [us],’’ Linehan says, promising to pitch a larger increase than the report suggested. “We are not going to back down.’’
August 21: Linehan shaves a couple thousand off of the number the council voted on last year, saying the salary he has in mind now is $105,000, a raise of $17,500.
August 31: Walsh proposes a $99,500 salary for councilors. “I was hoping that he would come in higher,’’ Linehan tells the Globe.
100 years of Massachusetts governors:
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