Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Do they really deserve this?

From CBS New York:

Imagine earning more than $100,000 a year for a part time job.

Legislators in Albany have that in mind, sources tell CBS 2. If they get their way, they would be the highest paid state legislators in the country.

State lawmakers currently make about $79,500, according to a report by the National Conference of State Legislatures. That puts them at third, in terms of pay, on the national scene. In Pennsylvania, state lawmakers make $82,026 a year. In California, they make $95,291.

New York state legislators base salaries also don’t include various “lulus,” or cash bonuses they get for fulfilling certain additional roles. For example, they earn $171 every day they work in Albany. The minority whip of the senate gets paid an additional $14,500 for that role. The chairman of the senate finance committee gets a $34,000 “lulu,” according to a report in the Times Union.

For comparison, consider the salaries of lawmakers in Texas: $7,200. In Florida, state lawmakers make $29,687.

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the median household income in New York was $55,603.

The last time state lawmakers gave themselves a pay hike was in 1999. Any boost in pay they vote on this year won’t take effect until next year.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

the nys politicians do not read the business/ economic/financial sections of the newspapers.

they have no idea that most of the Nation, including NYS, has unemployment, underemployment,out of control spending, and public employee salary/pension scams , that makes raising their salaries UNSUSTAINABLE.

and if they do know,they do not care.

Mr. Haber quoted a NYS watchdog group,in letters to the editor,Queens Chronicle, that the NYS Legislature is the most incompetent in the nation, last week.

NO RAISES......TAX ENOUGH ALREADY.....

Anonymous said...

It will be interesting to see which Albany "Legislators" support this and which oppose it. Doesn't matter really we should vote them all out.

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't mind paying people professional salaries to serve in the Legislature, if we all didn't keep electing such unprofessional people with little experience with life as it's actually lived outside of politics, government and the "non-profit" sector (which so often just seems like a "fifth branch" of government, with poorer pay and benefits --- that's a riff on how some people talk about the three traditional, and call the civil service the fourth branch)

Anonymous said...

City Council makes more . Thats the way to go.

Anonymous said...

They should get raises - and work full-time. No side work; no siting on boards, no committees, no non-profits, no law practices, etc. And term limits!

Anonymous said...

Somehow the will get thier raises and manage to blame unions for the shortfalls in the budget.

Anonymous said...

the NYS ciitizens are expressing their own economic death wish by enabling these NYS free loading pols. to give themselves pay raises ,while the 9.5% to 14 % unemployed and underemployed navigate this depression.

Anonymous said...

one wonders who pays for their cell phones and minutes utilized ?