Elected leaders profit as we pay

This week, Boston City Council raised the salaries for themselves and Mayor Martin J. Walsh, increasing councilor pay from $99,500 to $103,500 and the mayor’s from $199,000 to $207,000 after upcoming elections.

Mayor Walsh came into office in 2014 making $175,000. His jump to $207,000 will be an increase of 18 percent.

The City Council had passed a 14 percent pay raise for themselves back in 2015 that brought them from $87,500 to $99,500.

In 2006, they got a bump of 16.7 percent, from $75,000 to $87,500.

That is a 38 percent increase in pay in a little over a decade.

That means that while working Americans suffered the worst of the “Great Recession” and its aftermath, many of the folks at City Hall enjoyed unfettered prosperity.

Elected leaders are supposed to be working on behalf of the people as a matter of service, not to enjoy safe harbor from the economic realities that affect their constituents. They are advocates for the citizenry and their compensation should come in the form of the esteem of the office they occupy. They are entrusted with power and enjoy standing in the community.

Undoubtedly, when a term of service is completed in Boston City Council, other fruitful activities will avail themselves and they can pursue a measure of affluence in the private sector with no burden to the taxpayer.

Not in the city of Boston, though.

Councilors Josh Zakim and Ayanna Pressley voted against the proposal, but do not grant them any special praise. He’s running for secretary of state and she’s running for Congress.

There is a difference between public service and self-service, and our elected officials’ proclivity for taking money from the taxpayer for personal gain is an easy way to differentiate the two.