Audacity of City Hall raises

Those in the public sector often have two complementary attributes: audacity and a sense of entitlement.

For example, it takes a strong sense of entitlement for Boston city councilors and Mayor Marty Walsh to believe they deserve a raise. And an overabundance of audacity is required to declare it in public and set in motion a plan to make it happen.

Our representatives in City Hall are a brash bunch, if nothing else.

As the Herald’s Antonio Planas reported, the mayor is recommending salary increases of more than 4 percent for city councilors, whose pay would bump from $99,500 to $103,500, and a raise for himself to $207,000 from $199,000.

Mayor Walsh last received a pay hike in 2015, from $175,000 to $199,000, while city councilors enjoyed a $12,000 pay raise that same year.

Walsh made clear that he was recommending the raises based on findings from the Municipal Compensation Advisory Board. The board was reconstituted by Mayor Walsh in 2014 and he indicated at that time that, “Nobody wants to put public officials in the position of having to set and vote on their own salaries, least of all the officials themselves. A neutral and research-driven mechanism is essential.”

If you weren’t bowled over by the tongue-in-cheek tone of the statement, the facts are plain. The mayor appointed members to a board. The board green-lit the raises. The board is a “neutral and research-driven mechanism” and certainly not a group of political allies ...

Back to audacity.

City Council President Andrea Campbell wrote in an email, “Because these salary recommendations are set by an independent board and not the Council, and not set to go into effect until 2020, I accept their recommendations.” We’re sure it was a close call. There is something amusing about witnessing raw, craven politics but the feeling is fleeting. Many hard-working folks in the commonwealth haven’t seen a raise in years.

Public service is supposed to highlight service, but these salaries are gold-plated affronts to those who do the real, hard work every day.

According to the Department of Labor’s estimates,in Massachusetts, microbiologists make an annual mean wage of $83,350; school psychologists — $83,660; health care social workers — $57,440; clergy — $59,240; firefighters — $60,550; travel agents — $43,830; and electricians — $65,210.

Maybe they should get themselves a compensation advisory board.