Mayor de Blasio signs bills giving raises to elected officials

Mayor Bill de Blasio signed legislation Friday morning giving immediate pay raises to New York City elected officials — including to council members, who had voted themselves raises even higher than a blue-ribbon panel recommended.

The raises are retroactive to Jan. 1 and went into effect with the mayor’s signature.

The legislation is actually a package of four bills. The pay-raise bill passed 40-7 on Feb. 5. The other bills signed Friday prohibit most outside income, eliminate stipends for leadership posts, convert the job of City Council member to full-time from part-time and order financial disclosure documents go online.

Pay raises would also go to the mayor, who would make $258,750, up from $225,000. Other raises bring salaries to $212,800 for the city’s five district attorneys, $209,050 for the comptroller, $184,800 for the public advocate, $179,200 for the five borough presidents and $164,500 for the council speaker, who heads the body.

The council went beyond the blue-ribbon panel’s recommendations by giving itself $10,000 more than recommended.

In remarks before the signing, Frederick A.O. “Fritz” Schwarz Jr., the panel head, said he disagreed with the bump the council gave itself, but he said, “It does not get in the way of the fact that this is a fundamentally progressive piece of legislation.”

Council members, who had made $112,500, now make $148,500. It’s their first pay raise since 2006.

Council members are due to receive the raise starting with the next pay period, March 11, along with the retroactive pay of about $5,500, according to council spokeswoman Amy Varghese.

De Blasio has said he would decline his raise during this term in office.

According to the latest payroll data, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone is paid $187,000, and Nassau’s Edward Mangano, $174,614.

The highest-paid Nassau lawmaker, Norma Gonsalves (R-East Meadow), is paid $69,241.50, and in Suffolk, Thomas Barraga (R-West Islip) is highest paid at $100,429, according to payroll data.

Legislators in Nassau and Suffolk are allowed to hold outside jobs.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.