NY lawmakers: Is it time for a raise?

ALBANY -- There is no formal discussion of a legislative pay raise, state lawmakers insist -- one breath before refusing to rule out an increase and, in some cases, listing its merits.

"Anything's possible with the New York State Legislature. Look: two on-time budgets. That proves anything is possible," said Assemb. James Tedisco (R-Scotia).

Swimming beneath the on-time passage of the state budget last week was the belief that legislators, whose base pay is currently $79,500, might attempt to parlay public goodwill for their accomplishment into reward. Service in the Assembly and Senate remains, technically, a part-time job.

Lawmakers gave themselves a 36 percent pay increase in 1999, the last time their pay was raised. Any pay hike approved this year wouldn't go into effect until 2013 when the new Legislature is seated.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) said in January that it was time for a pay hike. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a fellow Democrat whose fiscal platform has been more conservative, did not immediately rule out the idea.

"We have had no discussions about a pay raise, and I would have to think it through," Cuomo said during a radio interview last week. "But I'd like to reiterate: I give full kudos to the legislators on both sides of the house, on both sides of the aisle. They work extraordinarily well. They've been strong leaders."

Silver told YNN's "Capital Tonight" last week that "more and more we have a number of men and women where this is their full-time job. And any full-time job where there hasn't been a raise in 14 years, people ought to look at it -- if the economy is right."

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) said, "Do I feel legislators are adequately paid? No. When you don't have a pay raise for 14 years . . . but the circumstances now are you just can't do it."

The circumstances are both economic and political, said Hank Sheinkopf, a political consultant who normally works for Democrats.

"It's not generally a good idea to do in an election year and a recession. No good can come from it," he said.

Lawmakers in Vermont and Michigan recently voted to cut their pay, according to data compiled by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

A 2011 survey by the NCSL found that the only states where lawmakers make more than they do in New York are California, which pays legislators $95,290.56 per year, and Pennsylvania, where base pay is $79,613 per year.

In New York, though, many legislators also earn stipends beyond their base bay for leadership functions, including chairing legislative committees.