(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Zohran Mamdani may have run for New York City mayor on a socialist platform, but one of the first bills he could sign would distribute wealth not to ordinary New Yorkers, but to the political elite.
The City Council is quietly preparing a 16 percent pay hike for members, the mayor and other elected officials, conveniently timing the bill’s signature just days after Mamdani takes office in January 2026.
Councilwoman Nantasha Williams, a Democrat from Queens, introduced the bill Tuesday to raise council salaries from $148,500 to $172,500 and the mayor’s salary from $258,000 to nearly $300,000.
The bill would also boost pay for the city comptroller, who makes $210,000, and the public advocate, an office formerly held by the embattled New York Attorney General Letitia James.
According to the New York Post, Williams’s bill is co-sponsored by 32 of the 45 Democratic members. Republicans solely hold six seats, bringing the council’s total membership to 51.
The City Council last approved a pay increase in 2016.
It is unclear whether Mamdani will sign the bill, though as a member of the New York Assembly, Mamdani voted to give himself and colleagues a pay hike in 2022.
The Post reported that Williams tried to rush the bill earlier this month but was blocked by local law preventing lame-duck council members from voting on raises.
Critics told the Post that Democrats likely hurried the bill to shield Mamdani from backlash over the optics of giving himself a raise within days of taking office.
Kalman Yeger, a Democratic state Assemblyman and former council member, said that the “only thing is I think they are worried that the mayor-elect won’t do it.”
“They are afraid if they pass it in January and he’d have to veto,” Yeger added. “How does the mayor-elect justify it, saying the working man can’t afford milk? He can’t sign off to give them a $20,000 raise.”
