By: Peter Babinsky

New York City’s newly installed City Council speaker has slammed the brakes on an effort by progressive lawmakers to hand themselves a sizable pay raise — though the idea of fatter paychecks for politicians is far from buried, according to the New York Post.

Speaker Julie Menin moved swiftly to shut down a proposal that would have boosted City Council members’ salaries by roughly 16%, a move that insiders say she viewed as politically risky and procedurally inappropriate. Sources told the New York Post that Menin made clear she was uncomfortable allowing council members to directly vote themselves a raise funded by taxpayers.

“The body has never done their own pay raise, so that wasn’t a path she was comfortable with,” a source close to Menin told the New York Post.

Menin, who was recently elevated to the powerful speaker role, reportedly insisted that any changes to elected officials’ compensation be handled through a process that is both transparent and insulated from self-dealing. According to the New York Post, she emphasized accountability as progressive members pushed to advance the legislation.

“She wants to make sure they’re doing it in a way that is accountable and transparent,” the source said, noting that the strongest support for the bill came from the council’s progressive caucus, the New York Post reported.

The legislation at the center of the controversy — Intro 1493 — was sponsored by Councilwoman Nantasha Williams and would have increased council salaries from $148,500 to $172,500. While Menin effectively blocked the council from voting directly on the raise, Williams signaled that the effort to increase pay is not over, according to the New York Post.

“The City Council bill is not axed,” Williams told the New York Post, adding that she plans to amend the legislation to remove the provision allowing lawmakers to directly approve their own raises.

Instead, progressives are now pivoting toward a more traditional workaround: pressuring newly sworn-in Mayor Zohran Mamdani to establish a compensation commission that could fast-track recommendations for higher salaries. As the New York Post reported, the council has historically relied on a Quadrennial Commission — appointed by the mayor — to study and recommend pay increases for elected officials.

That commission typically consists of three mayoral appointees and issues recommendations on salary levels. Since the first such commission was convened in 1987, the City Council has approved five pay raises, most recently in 2016, according to the New York Post.

Williams said she has already been in discussions with Menin about introducing revised legislation that would mandate the formation of a commission and instruct it to prioritize reviewing council pay. The goal, she explained, is to move quickly without forcing lawmakers to cast an awkward vote on their own compensation.

“On the contrary, I have been in active conversations with Speaker Menin about a better alternative new bill,” Williams told the New York Post. “It will mandate the commission to expeditiously focus on the pay raise.”

Multiple sources told the New York Post that the revised bill could be introduced as soon as this week and that Menin has spoken directly with Mayor Mamdani about the potential commission. The behind-the-scenes coordination suggests the salary issue remains very much alive despite Menin’s initial crackdown.

Councilman Shaun Abreu, a co-sponsor of the original bill, echoed Williams’ revised approach, arguing that a commission-based process is the most defensible path forward, the New York Post reported.

“The good government way of establishing salaries for elected officials would be through a commission,” Abreu said. “It’s the most fair way of doing it.”