Reisman: Does your mayor deserve a raise?

Salary creep. Have you noticed this phenomenon?

It’s a self-justifying dip into the cookie jar that lately has become popular with local elected officials who believe it’s high time they got a pay raise.

According to a story by Journal News staff writer Mark Lungariello, over the last year alone the leaders of 15 Westchester County municipalities have rewarded themselves with wage and stipend increases of varying levels of generosity.

A week after the story appeared, the part-time mayor of New Rochelle and some members of the city council said, “Me too!” They also want a raise — a 20 percent raise to be exact.

A public discussion will be held on Aug. 15 at New Rochelle City Hall, and you may be forgiven your cynicism if you believe they’re hoping and praying no one shows up to complain.

Denise Ward, an attorney and a vocal critic of Mayor Noam Bramson, said this is a classic “Bramsonian move.”

“It’s typical,” she said, “to do this kind of stuff in the middle of the summer when it’s hot and people are sleeping and not paying attention.”

There are few things that rile the scythe-and-pitchfork crowd more than a politician’s complaint that he or she isn’t getting enough dough. That’s why they make their move surreptitiously in the dog days. Only their loyal partisans and long-suffering spouses truly believe they deserve more money.

Nevertheless, it’s evident that more and more politicians have calculated they can weather the storm of constituent resentment. After all, the economy has improved since the Wall Street meltdown of 2008. So they might argue now is the time to summon the courage, confidence and chutzpah required to do the “right thing,” which is to magnanimously accept a retroactive reward.

Think of the suffering members of the New York City Council, which hadn’t had a pay increase since 2006 and made up for the sacrifice last February when they voted themselves a $36,000 raise, from $112,500 to $148,500. (That was $10,000 more than an advisory panel recommendation.)

Or consider the part-time Yonkers City Council, which went 13 years before giving itself a pay increase just before Christmas.

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The common justification is that many politicians work longer than part-time hours and therefore to begrudge them a decent, inflation-adjusted remuneration for their public service is petty, if not reactionary. However, there isn’t much sympathy coming from average working citizens whose wages have flat-lined while their taxes and fees keep going up. And they are even less inclined to feel their elected leaders’ economic pain when they learn of their various perks and benefits — ranging from pensions to free health care.

In New Rochelle, a 20 percent raise retroactive to 2008 would bring the mayor’s pay to about $106,000 and that of council members to nearly $40,800. If that occurred, it would represent an unearned windfall for Councilwoman Liz Fried, a Democrat who favors a salary increase but who only took office in January.

It’s also been suggested that automatic cost-of-living increases should follow on an annual basis, an idea that infuriates council-watchers like Ward, who compared it to a type of guarantee promised to union workers. That’s salary creep in perpetuity.

Not everyone on the council supports a pay increase.

For instance, Councilman Lou Trangucci, a Republican, favors only an increase in council stipends (from $2,000 to $4,000), which are used for postage and other housekeeping purposes. He told me that he routinely donates his stipend to bolster a recreation program at the Boys and Girls Club of New Rochelle.

James O’Toole, who ran for mayor against Bramson on the Independence Party line, campaigned on the promise he would cut the mayor’s pay to $62,000. He said he was “dumbfounded” when he heard of the bid to raise it instead.

“The charter says it’s a part-time job, not a full-time job,” he said. “What’s more, they ran for office knowing what the salary was. Now, eight months into the job, you don’t like the pay scale? Well, then get out!”

One argument given for the pay raises is that the city has $13 million in excess revenue thanks to an increase in building permit fees, job vacancies and other things.

But Ward said that money likely would not last long. In any event, she said relief should go to the taxpayers before any rewards are showered on the mayor and council.

They could use the money to fix potholes or reduce the city’s hated garbage-removal tax. Here’s an idea: literally give the money back to the citizens in the form of a check to each of the city’s nearly 30,000 households. That comes out to $400 each.

“There’s a lot of things they could do with this,” O’Toole said. “Fix your infrastructure. It’s all falling apart."

“Thirteen million dollars can get you a lot of places, but what’s their first priority? ‘Give us a raise.’ Give me a break.”