Council members raise own pay 24%

D.C. Council members yesterday gave final approval to pay raises for themselves and for the city’s next mayor, authorizing the increases just days before the current council period expires.

The salary measure was one of a number of bills passed during the council’s final legislative session before it recesses Saturday. Three new council members and a new council chairman will be sworn in on Jan. 2.

With little fanfare or debate, members approved their own 24 percent pay raise — meaning incoming and re-elected council members will earn $115,000 next year if Congress does not object to the increase.

The increase means council members will earn more than their counterparts in cities like New York, where members will earn $112,500 next year.

“There’s no question that we’re near the top,” said council member Phil Mendelson, an at-large Democrat who introduced the bill and amended it to include cost-of-living increases. “But there’s company.”

The median household income for the District last year was $47,221, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The bill, which passed on a 7-3 vote, will raise the mayor’s salary 31.6 percent from $152,000 to $200,000 and will raise the incoming council chairman’s salary to $190,000.

Adrian M. Fenty, Ward 4 Democrat and incoming mayor, and Vincent C. Gray, Ward 7 Democrat and incoming council chairman, recused themselves from the vote.

The bill will also create a commission to review the salaries of council members, the council chairman and the mayor.

Voting against the measure were Kathy Patterson, Ward 3 Democrat; Carol Schwartz, at-large Republican; and Kwame Brown, at-large Democrat.

“I felt that there wasn’t enough public discourse,” Mr. Brown said. “The public has a right to have a little more input in what the salaries are.”

Sharon Ambrose, Ward 6 Democrat, was absent because of illness.

The council yesterday also approved a $3.5 million grant to help the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) acquire land to move its headquarters from Baltimore to the District.

Marion Barry, Ward 8 Democrat, who introduced an emergency bill authorizing the funds, hailed as historic the organization’s planned move.

“We have a wonderful opportunity to make history here in the District of Columbia,” Mr. Barry said. “It’s wonderful to have the NAACP in the new Ward 8, which will bring some hope and help for all of us.”

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