REPORT OF THE GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS DIVISION

Robert Newman, Legislative Director

COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS

Simcha Felder, Chair

November 8, 2006

INT. NO. 458: By the Speaker (Council Member Quinn) and Council Members Rivera, Comrie, deBlasio, Fidler, Dickens, Felder and Oddo

TITLE: A Local Law to amend the New York city charter, in relation to compensation of the mayor, public advocate, members of the city council, borough presidents, comptroller and district attorneys.

INTRODUCTION

On Wednesday, November 8, 2006, the Committee on Governmental Operations, chaired by Council Member Simcha Felder, will hold a hearing on Int. No. 458, which would amend various sections of the New York City charter (“Charter”) to implement the salary increases proposed by the Mayor’s 2006 Advisory Commission for the Review of Compensation Levels of Elected Officials (“Commission”). Those invited to testify include all City elected officials, various good government and advocacy groups, and the public.

BACKGROUND: ADVISORY COMMISSION FOR THE REVIEW OF COMPENSATION LEVELS OF ELECTED OFFICIALS

Section 3-601 of the Administrative Code of the City of New York (“Administrative Code”) requires the Mayor to appoint an advisory commission every four years to study the compensation levels of the Mayor, Public Advocate, Council Members, Borough Presidents, Comptroller and the District Attorneys of the five counties within the City of New York and recommend changes to those compensation levels, if warranted.[1] The Administrative Code requires that the advisory commission be comprised of three private citizens that are generally recognized for their knowledge and experience in management and compensation levels, one member of which the Mayor shall designate as the chairperson of the commission.

The last quadrennial commission created pursuant to section 3-601 of the Administrative Code to review salary increases was in 1999.[2] Due to a severe budget crisis, Mayor Michael Bloomberg deferred the appointment of another commission at the statutorily prescribed time in 2003 until 2006 when a meaningful review of these salaries could take place because of improved budget conditions.”[3] Therefore, the Commission was the first commission appointed in seven years to review the salaries of elected officials,[4] and because it was not appointed according to the cycle prescribed by the Administrative Code, it is not considered a “quadrennial” Commission within in the meaning of the Administrative Code.[5] Mayor Bloomberg appointed the following individuals to the 2006 Commission: Chairman – Tom A. Bernstein, President and Co-Founder of Chelsea Piers, L.P.; Members – G.G. Michelson, Chair of Helena Rubenstein Foundation and Chair Emeritus of the Board of Trustees of Columbia University and Stephanie Palmer, Executive Director of New York City Mission.[6]

After providing notice of a hearing and publishing requests for public comments, the Commission held one public hearing on June 1, 2006, during which several individuals testified and the Commission received recommendations in writing from six elected officials.[7] The Commission also met five times to discuss and review the issues.[8]

At the conclusion of the Commission's review, it issued a report to the Mayor containing its recommendations for increases in the compensation levels of the aforementioned elected officials.[9] The Mayor then submitted the Commission's report with his support for the Commission’s recommendations to the City Council.[10]

THE COMMISSION'S RECOMMENDATIONS

Section 3-601 of the Administration Code, provides, in part, that:

In making its recommendations the commission should take into consideration the duties and responsibilities of each position, the current salary of the position and the length of time since the last change, any change in the cost of living, compression of salary levels for other officers and employees of the city, and salary trends for positions with analogous duties and responsibilities both within government and in the private sector.[11]

Specifically, the Commission, in making its recommendations, considered the following key economic indicators:

The issue of compression, which occurs when staff members of elected officials receive higher salaries than the elected official(s) for whom they work;[12]
The salaries of the Mayor, Council Members and Comptroller in the twenty-five largest cities in the United States;[13]
The salaries of elected officials in the ten largest states;[14]
The salaries of several other sectors, including the non-profit sector;[15]
Changes in City economic conditions, as exemplified by general wage increases provided to government employees and the Consumer Price Index (“CPI”);[16] and
Two managerial increases that Mayor Bloomberg authorized for City managers, scheduled to become effective between now and early 2007.[17]

The Commission determined that “[t]he powers and responsibilities of offices subject to the Commission’s review have changed over the years…and [t]he offices have been impacted by the rapid improvement of technology and the increase in the size of the City’s budget and demand for services during times of historic growth.”[18] The Commission also found that the extent to which the salaries of New York City’s elected officials can be compared to the salaries of elected officials of other states and municipalities throughout the country is limited, due to the City’s unique: (i) population size; (ii) size of its public workforce; and (iii) $53 billion budget (which is larger than that of most states).[19]

The Commission determined that its recommended salary increases are appropriate because the salaries of New York City’s elected offices have not been increased since 1999 due to budgetary problems within the City and therefore these increases cover an eight-year period from 1999 to 2007.[20] Further, the average annual increase for this eight-year period ranges from 1.2 percent for the Public Advocate to 2.9 percent for District Attorneys.[21] However, during the same period, the average increase in the Consumer Price Index was 3.2 percent, with raises for DC 37 workers at 2.9 percent and raises for the appointed city managers at 2.9 percent.[22] Thus, the Commission’s recommended average annual increases are less than these three area indicators would justify.[23]

Moreover, “[t]he Commission’s proposed overall increases for the eight year period from 1999 to 2007 are generally less than the increases given by the previous Commission for the four year period from 1995 to 1999 [and]…are far less than the range recommended by the 1995 Commission covering 1987 to 1995, which was also formed after salary increases had not been given for eight years.[24]” In making its recommendations, the Commission observed that it is of the utmost importance “to ensure that public officials receive compensation appropriate to the services they perform...and the compensation elected officials receive should reflect the enormous amount of responsibility and trust placed with them.”[25]

Based upon the aforementioned conclusions, the Commission recommended that the salary levels of elected officials in the City of New York be increased as set forth in the chart below:

Elected Official	Current Base Salary	Proposed Increase	New Base Salary
Mayor	$195,000	$30,000	$225,000
Public Advocate	$150,000	$25,000	$165,000
City Council	$90,000	$22,500	$112,500
Borough President	$135,000	$25,000	$160,000
Comptroller	$160,000	$25,000	$185,000
District Attorney	$150,000	$40,000	$190,000

Although the Commission acknowledged that limiting the ability of government officials to raise their own salaries and receive them immediately would improve the integrity of government, it also recognized that since it has been more than seven years since the last salary increase, any change should be considered prospectively.[26] The Commission’s final recommendations were that the Council or a future Charter Revision Commission should consider the following issues: (i) whether the practice of issuing stipends or “lulus” should be reformed; and (ii) whether the job of a City Council Member should be considered a full-time position.[27]

INT. NO. 458

In accordance with section 3-601 of the Administrative Code, the Mayor submitted the Commission's Report to the Council and endorsed the increases recommended by the Commission. Int. No. 458 implements the recommended salary changes specified in the chart above by amending various sections of the Charter. In particular, section one of Int. No. 458 amends section 4 of the Charter to increase the Mayor’s salary from $195,000 to $225,000. Section two of the bill amends subdivisions a and b of section 26 of the Charter to change the Public Advocates’ salary from $150,000 to $165,000 and a Council Member’s salary from $90,000 to $112,500. Section three of the bill amends subdivision c of section 81 of the Charter by increasing the Borough Presidents’ salary from $135,000 to $160,000. Section four of Int. No. 458 amends section 91 of the Charter by increasing the salary of the Comptroller from $160,000 to $185,000 and section five of the bill amends section eleven hundred twenty-five of the Charter to increase the salaries of the district attorneys from $150,000 to $190,000.

Pursuant to the requirements of section 3-601 of the Administrative Code, the Mayor would be required to appoint the next Commission in 2007.[28] However, the Commission observed that to appoint another Commission in 2007 “to perform the same function, using the same data, would be unnecessary and wasteful.[29]” Thus, section six of the bill states that “[n]otwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the Mayor shall not be required to appoint a quadrennial advisory commission for the review of compensation levels of elected officials in 2007.”

Int. No. 458 would take effect forty-five days after adoption and would be in full force and effect as of November 1, 2006.

[1] Administrative Code of the City of New York §3-601.

[2] See Report and Recommendations of the Advisory Commission for the Review of Compensation Levels of Elected Officials (“Report’), dated October 23, 2006, at page 3.

[10] See letter from Mayor Michael Bloomberg to dated October 23, 2006.

[11] Administrative Code of the City of New York §3-601.

[12] See Report at 13 (noting that the Commission’s recommendations sought to alleviate compression issues, especially for the Offices of District Attorney where it found the problem to be the most endemic).

[28] See Administrative Code of the City of New York §3-601.