Compensation Committee Recommends Pay Increases, Tied to Reforms

December 11th, 2018

On Thursday, the New York State Compensation Committee voted in favor of pay raises for the Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, State Comptroller, the 213 members of the state Assembly and Senate as well as cabinet-level officials. The pay raises will go into effect unless the Legislature rejects them.  The pay increase for these officials would be their first in 20 years.

Under the committee’s recommendations, the Governor’s salary would increase from $178,000 today to $250,000 in 2022.  State lawmakers, who currently earn $79,500, would have their salaries increased to $110,000 in 2019, to $120,000 in 2020, and $130,000 in 2021.

The Compensation Committee also recommended limiting state legislators’ non-state income to 15 percent of their salary and eliminating “legislative lulus” (stipends for committee and leadership positions) for all but the top legislative leaders.

With New York State ranking as one of the highest taxed and least business friendly states in the nation, our view is that taxpayers deserve better results for our money.