(The Center Square) — Fiscal watchdogs are urging a New York commission not to approve pay raises for top agency heads unless the state sets limits on their earnings from outside income.
The state Commission on Legislative, Judicial and Executive Compensation is considering whether to bump take-home pay for the governor, lawmakers and top executive officials amid claims by the Hochul administration that they are making far less than their counterparts in New York City.
The independent panel, whose recommendations could go into effect without action by the governor or the Legislature, is expected to release its recommendations before Nov. 15.
However, fiscal watchdogs are calling for changes to state law to set limits on the amount of money that New York officials can earn from outside sources before considering any bump in their pay.
“We believe that pay increases without greater safeguards to better ensure elected officials put the public before their private pocketbook interests would be unwarranted and irresponsible,” the group Reinvent Albany said in written testimony to the commission. “The public basically made a deal with the Legislature to support pay raises in return for limits on outside income: no limits means no pay raise.”
At a commission hearing last week, the Hochul administration released figures showing that most state department heads are earning about $50,000 a year less than their counterparts in New York City are taking home for pay.
Victor Kovner, Hochul’s appointee to the commission, argued that many state officials are “under compensated” and said a pay raise is “likely warranted” to bring those salaries in line with other New York officials.
“I have trouble to see the disparity and compensation for comparable positions in the city of New York with the state of New York,” Kovner told the panel.
In its testimony, Reinvent Albany said it doesn’t necessarily oppose higher pay for department heads through cost of living adjustments “but only if increases are accompanied by greater restrictions on outside income.”
The group noted that New York lawmakers controversially voted last year to give themselves a 29% raise, bumping their pay to $142,000 a year – the highest of all state legislatures – and currently have no limits on outside pay.
Lawmakers, who meet in Albany for six months out of the year, had agreed to cap outside income at $35,000 beginning next year in exchange for the pay raises, but that provision is on hold following a legal challenge, according to the group.
Meanwhile, Hochul is also one of the highest-paid governors in the nation, with a $176,000 salary set to go into effect next year, the group noted. It noted that there are also no limits on outside income for the governor’s post, citing a $5 million book deal by former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo as an example of how much money officials can make outside of their state compensation without curbs.
“When outside income is a large portion of a legislator’s take-home pay and legislators have business relationships where they are legally required to put their clients first, the public can rightly question where legislators’ priorities lie,” the group said.
The commission was created in 2015 by the Legislature, which was concerned about holding politically sensitive votes to increase lawmakers’ pay. In 2022, a conservative group sued the state, claiming that the commission didn’t have the authority to increase pay for lawmakers and other state officials, but the legal challenge was ultimately rejected by state courts.
