They have pay FOMO.
Envious Albany lawmakers are eyeing giving themselves fat pay hikes after a similarly self-serving move by New York City Council members, insiders said.
The City Council inflated their own salaries to $175,000, far more than the $142,000 that lawmakers in the state Legislature make in a year.
The raise toppled New York state Assembly and state Senate members off their perch as the highest-paid lawmakers in the Empire State.
“We’re not anymore, the City Council is,” one state Assembly member told The Post.
The Big Apple pay raise could set up a domino effect in Albany, where lawmakers last gave themselves a bump during a special session in December 2022 that Gov. Kathy Hochul approved, insiders said.
The legislature would have to come back for another winter special session to approve potential hikes for the next session — a prospect that Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said isn’t yet on the radar.
Heastie, however, left it open for state lawmakers to repeat their 2022 antics.
“I don’t know if there’s enough money that could pay for the sacrifices that legislators make,” Heastie told Politico last week. “Six months of the year, you’re away from your family. So, I’m always supportive of members getting paid.”
Albany lawmakers’ last self-enriching raise made them the highest-compensated state legislators in the nation.
While the recent City Council pay hike eclipsed the state legislature’s current salaries, it’s still chump change compared to the whopping up to $270,000 a year that Los Angeles City Council members make.
Only Republicans and conservative Democrats opposed the hike in the 42-6 vote, with Council Speaker Julie Menin, a millionaire, abstaining.
Menin and Mayor Zohran Mamdani, whose salary would also go up to $305,800, both made a show of promising they won’t accept the bumps. The pay level, however, would include the bump for their successors.
The council bump set off waves of keeping-up-with-the-Joneses chatter in Albany, where a bill by state Sen. James Sanders (D-Queens) to hike legislator pay to $180,000 was quietly introduced early this year.
One state lawmaker griped to The Post that the City Council gave itself raises right after Albany forked over billions of dollars to help New York City claw itself out of a massive budget hole.
But other lawmakers viewed the time as ripe for raises, albeit after a short wait.
“Even if we’re going to do it, you’re not going to hear a word about it until November,” a state Assembly member said.
Assemblyman Tony Simone (D-Manhattan) contended raising pay would draw better-quality candidates.
“It’s important to ensure that legislative salaries are enough to attract diverse and qualified representatives from all walks of life,” he said.
Comparing City Council salaries to legislative ones isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison, argued Rachael Fauss, a senior policy adviser with the Reinvent Albany good government group.
She noted city council members are not allowed to collect an outside income, but state lawmakers are allowed up to 25% — or $35,500.
Reinvent Albany has called for a 15% cap on outside income.
“I think because the state’s outside income that’s allowed are still high, that really needs to be addressed first,” Fauss said.
An independent commission should ultimately decide lawmakers’ pay, Fauss said.
And many Albany lawmakers already effectively gave themselves a pay raise earlier this year when they approved reforms tied to Tier 6 pensions.
Out of 213 lawmakers, 75 are Tier 6 pensioners and now have to pay less into their retirement, according to The City Reporter.
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