Cuomo, legislators may get pay raise from commission
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's Regional Economic Development Councils are doing a poor job of accounting for how millions of dollars in state business aid is being used, an independent fiscal watchdog said Monday. Credit: Getty Images
ALBANY
Talk about lousy timing.
After the biggest corruption trials in the state's history dominated headlines for weeks, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and legislators are asking for a raise.
The New York State Commission on Legislative, Judicial and Executive Compensation created by Cuomo and the legislature holds its first public hearing Monday in Manhattan. That session -- the first in a series -- focuses only on the judiciary. The panel created by Cuomo and legislators is expected to recommend a raise, but not until after the 2016 legislative elections.
If the governor and legislators don't object, and no one is making that bet, the raises for them and state judges will quietly take effect Jan. 1, 2017.
Legislators make a $79,500 base salary for the part-time job. But most collect six-figure salaries when leadership stipends and $172-a-day expenses for work in Albany are calculated. The latter expenses this year were worth more than $10,000 based on the number of session days.
The governor makes $179,000, the lieutenant governor and attorney general make $151,500; the comptroller makes $127,000; the chief judge $191,000, associate justices on the Court of Appeals $185,000; and most state judges $174,000.
The panel was created after 2 a.m. on April 1, as the legislature voted on the 2015-16 budget, which had been due by midnight. The "independent body" was appointed by the governor, legislators and the top judge, all of whom would get the raises.
Under the law, the panel would rise to life again every four years to consider additional raises. The panel could enact the raises without governors and legislators having to mention it to their constituents.
The new law was created because New Yorkers haven't been keen on raising the salaries, although most lawmakers haven't had a raise since 1999. A stretch of 30 officials losing their jobs over a dozen years to scandal and corruption charges can have that effect.
Even the Albany practice of passing raises in a lame-duck special session days after the legislative elections proved too politically risky.
The meeting will be open and webcast from the New York City Bar Association, about 50 blocks north of the trials of former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) and former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), who were accused of using their political power for personal benefit. Silver and Skelos each made $120,000 a year in their public jobs.
Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.
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