According to sources in Albany, on Thursday, Dec. 6 a panel of current and former state comptrollers voted to increase the base pay for state legislators to $130,000 annually by 2021. With the vote, the panel called for curtailing the number of leadership stipends and restricting the amount of outside income legislators can earn.
Lawmakers would receive their first salary increase in January, bumping their current salary of $79,500 to $110,000, the highest in the country. Their base pay would then increase to $120,000 in 2020 and $130,000 in 2021.
In addition to the legislature, the panel has recommended increasing the governor’s salary of $179,000 to $200,000 in January. It would then increase to $225,000 in 2020 and $250,000 in 2021. The lieutenant governor’s salary of $151,500 would be $190,000 in 2019, $210,000 in 2020 and $220,000 in 2021. The salary for the state comptroller and attorney general would go from $151,500 to $190,000 in 2019, $210,000 in 2020 and $220,000 in 2021.
These recommendations would require action by the state Legislature to implement. The increases would make the governor and the lieutenant governor the highest paid in the country.
The committee’s final report is due on Monday.
