Mamdani Rejects $47K Pay Raise as NYC Council Votes Itself 18% Bump

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he will forgo the pay raise the City Council just voted through, even as lawmakers handed themselves their first salary bump in a decade. The measure lifts elected officials’ pay by roughly 18%, with the mayor’s salary set to climb to $305,800 from $258,750.

What the Council actually passed

On Thursday, the City Council voted to approve a pay raise for themselves, the mayor, public advocate, borough presidents, comptroller and district attorneys, with the legislation passing 42-6 and an abstention by Speaker Julie Menin.

The 51 City Council members, who currently earn $148,500 a year, will now receive $175,500. Council salaries move from $164,500 to $175,500, and the speaker’s pay rises to $194,400. District attorneys will also get the raise, bringing their salaries to $251,500, or as much as the county’s supreme court judges make.

The new salaries take effect in 45 days and will be retroactive to the start of this calendar year.

Mamdani’s refusal

The legislation brings Mamdani’s salary to $305,800, up from $258,750, but he has said he will refuse the extra money and would rather see it go to struggling New Yorkers.

“I will not accept a pay raise,” the mayor said at a news conference Thursday, repeating an earlier pledge. “I haven’t knocked on anyone’s door in New York City and they’ve said their concern is that the mayor makes too little.”

City Council Speaker Julie Menin, who like Mamdani was recently elected to her post, has also said she will not accept a salary increase during her current term in office, and abstained from voting on the bill.

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The fiscal backdrop

The raises are expected to cost the city $2.6 million this year and $17 million next year, according to the Council’s analysis.

The Council’s decision to raise its own pay comes as Mamdani faces the prospect of negotiating dozens of soon-to-expire labor contracts with New York’s roughly 300,000 employees, and as the city faces multibillion-dollar deficits.

The price level has risen 31% over the past decade, according to a quadrennial commission empaneled earlier this year by Mamdani, and the commission recommended the raises. Apart from district attorneys, whose compensation has increased along with state judicial salaries, city elected officials have not received raises since 2016, when the Council increased members’ salaries to $148,500 while making their positions full-time.

Why traders should care

NYC’s budget math matters for muni credit, local real estate, and any company with material NYC exposure. Rising public-sector wage pressure into a round of labor negotiations, layered on top of a multibillion-dollar deficit, is a slow-burn risk for the city’s fiscal outlook.

Mamdani’s early posture, rent freezes, refusing his own raise, and a populist framing, is also being watched by capital allocators weighing NYC exposure. Landlord and REIT sentiment on the city has already softened since the election.

Options market and stocks to watch

Watch for reaction in names with heavy NYC exposure as the Mamdani agenda takes shape:

• EQR: Equity Residential has NYC multifamily exposure; watch for flow around any rent policy headlines.
• AVB: AvalonBay is another multifamily REIT sensitive to NYC rent and regulatory tone.
• VNO: Vornado is a pure-play NYC office/retail landlord, arguably the most direct sentiment gauge.
• SLG: SL Green, Manhattan’s largest office landlord, tends to trade on NYC fiscal and policy news.
• JPM: JPMorgan and other NYC-headquartered banks watch city fiscal health closely given tax and labor implications.

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