Senate prez: Solons’ pay hike ‘in line’
Senate President Stanley C. Rosenberg said he’s received dozens of emails about a pay raise for lawmakers that was passed over the governor’s veto earlier this month — a hike he defended as in keeping with other legislatures.
“I got about 30 emails from my constituents and probably another 40 or 50 beyond that,” said Rosenberg, who late last month said he had gotten no calls from constituents.
“So basically we came in the line with California, Pennsylvania, New York. Our base salary is $62,500 and it was $60,000 until the governor gave us a cost-ofliving increase for the first time in nine years, fulfilling his obligation under the constitution to his credit, because the previous governor did not,” he said yesterday on Herald Radio’s “Morning Meeting” show.
Lawmakers rushed the bill through the State House, voting on back-toback days without holding a single formal hearing. They overrode a Baker veto with a 116-43 House vote and a 31-9 Senate vote.
Thanks to the votes, Rosenberg and House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo’s salaries rose by nearly 50 percent, to $142,500 a year.
The raises still put Massachusetts lawmakers behind those in California, Pennsylvania and New York, Rosenberg said.
“When you compare our base salary, the next of that group of four (states) — and that’s not arbitrarily selected, these are full-time urban legislatures — the next lowest is $85,000. ... And then when you add the leadership pay and the chairmanship pay, still we’re the lowest of the four, coming in at about $101,000 on average in the Senate, and the highest of that group is $113,000 on average. So we just came in line with salaries in other comparable legislatures,” he said.
Rosenberg noted Boston city councilors and many Boston police officers are higher paid than state lawmakers.
“And again, I don’t begrudge anybody the salaries they earn, I know people work hard. And so the Boston City Council is at almost $100,000. More than 2,000 police, it was reported in (the Herald), more than 2,000 police officers in Boston make $100,000 a year, and Cabinet secretaries make $161,000, commissioners make between $103,000 and 150-something or other,” he said. “So comparable work, comparable pay.”