Council OK's big raises for itself, mayor

After six minutes of debate and with no roll call vote, Boston city councilors approved 16.6 percent raises yesterday for themselves and the mayor.

The raises would increase the councilors' salaries from $75,000 a year to $87,500 and the mayor's annual pay from $150,000 to $175.000. Base pay for Massachusetts legislators is $55,570, with an additional $15,000 annually for those who chair legislative committees. The Massachusetts governor's salary is $135,000 annually.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino must still sign the measure.

''It's striking that city councilors are paid so much more than state legislators, who have much greater authority and responsibility," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

Of the mayor's raise, Widmer said, ''There's a clear inequity when the state's constitutional officers are paid so much less than the mayor of Boston."

Councilors defended the action, saying they have not had raises since 2002 and complaining that they are forced to perform the politically awkward task of approving their own salary increases in public.

''Every four years, the City Council is put in the unenviable position of having to vote on compensation for the executive branch, the legislative branch, and top policy makers," said Council President Michael F. Flaherty. ''Until a new mechanism is put in place, we'll probably have this same story in four years."

Councilors also pointed out that they were adopting the recommendations of the mayorally appointed Compensation Advisory Board, which looked at municipal pay in several other cities in order to arrive at figures for Boston. The chairman of that board has said that Boston's pay is not out of line with pay in comparable cities.

According to data compiled by two national groups, Boston pays its mayor better than many cities in its size range. International City/County Management Association statistics show that in 2005, mayors of cities with 500,000 to 999,000 residents earned an average of $91,499.

Councilors passed the measure yesterday without first holding a public hearing on pay raises. The council's Government Operations Committee was scheduled to hold a hearing on the measure two weeks ago, but it was canceled. Councilors said yesterday that the meeting was not rescheduled because they were pressed for time.

Voting for raises without holding a public hearing dismayed government watchdogs.

''Certainly they do not get a gold star for an open political process," said Pam Wilmot, executive director of Common Cause Massachusetts. ''Salaries and pay raises are the biggest political hot potato that there is. The council has recently gotten into hot water for a number of openness issues."

Said Shirley Kressel of the Alliance of Boston Neighborhoods, who recently won a lawsuit against the council for violating the state's open meeting law: ''In view of the recent court ruling that mandated transparency in the City Council deliberations and decision-making, it's hard to believe they are so far removed from any sense of accountability that they think they can do this. They think democracy stops at the voting booth."

Kressel's suit charged that a majority of council members had met 11 times in less than two years without giving public notice. A superior court judge ruled the council violated the open meeting law, imposed $11,000 in fines and ordered the council to obey the law.

In presenting the pay measure for council consideration yesterday, Government Operations Committee chairwoman Maureen E. Feeney included a committee report lauding city employees who would receive raises, though it did not specifically mention councilors.

''The committee acknowledges the outstanding performance of the department heads and others covered by this ordinance and offers its gratitude for their contributions, great and small," the report says.

Two councilors, Chuck Turner and Sam Yoon, commented on the measure before the vote was taken. Turner and Felix Arroyo opposed the measure, which was passed on a voice vote.

''The public should have a right to comment and give their perspective," Turner told fellow councilors at the meeting. ''Not having a hearing this year is another reason why passage of this ordinance would be inappropriate."

The issue of pay raises had earlier run into criticism when questions were raised about the role of Lawrence S. DiCara, a lawyer and former city councilor who chairs the city's Compensation Advisory Board.

Feeney canceled a hearing on the raises shortly after reports that DiCara was also working as a lawyer for the Forsyth Institute, which is seeking city park land for a development project. Feeney did not say that was the reason the hearing was canceled.

The city's corporation counsel, William Sinnott, determined there was no conflict of interest, and councilors said they felt they could move forward.

DiCara said yesterday he recommended the raises after analyzing the pay of elected and appointed officials in comparable cities. The council never saw DiCara's analysis or any other documentation showing that Boston officials are underpaid, councilors said.

DiCara said that of 16 cities reviewed, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and ''some of the other cities" had higher pay scales than Boston.

He said that in San Francisco councilors are paid $90,731 and in Washington, D.C. they are paid $92,500. In San Diego, a city about twice the size of Boston with about the same cost of living, he said, councilors are paid $75,386. The average salary for mayors in the cities he looked at was $160,000, he said.

Samuel Tyler, president of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, said a raise for the mayor is not ''unreasonable . . . given the size of the city."

''By custom the councilors receive half of what the mayor's salary is," he said. ''But I would have hoped and expected it to be a more public process."

The ordinance approved yesterday also lowered the maximum pay proposed for the city corporation counsel and chief financial officer and increased the minimum salary for a category that includes the city clerk, who hasn't received a raise in many years.

''None of us ever have an appetite for this," said Stephen J. Murphy, who is vice chair of the government operations committee. ''We took a look at the fact we're trying to attract good talent for vacancies and pay people what they're worth."

Stephanie Ebbert of the Globe staff contributed to this report.