Brewer on Impact of Low Salaries on Staff and Candidate Diversity
Brewer discusses how stagnant elected official salaries cap staff wages, hinder competitive hiring, and limit who can afford to run for office, emphasizing that elected roles are demanding 24/7 jobs.
These stagnant wages not only affect elected officials.
For non-executive roles, an elected official's salary serves as a cap on the salaries of those employees who work for them, in some cases.
Keeping those salaries artificially low.
This keeps the city from offering competitive wages, which can prevent us from being able to attract the best and brightest to crucial city jobs.
I will say that staff, however, in the mayor's office and the speaker's office and maybe elsewhere is higher often than the elected officials.
Low salaries for elected officials can also negatively influence who is even able to run for office.
Being an elected official in New York City is a challenging and demanding 24-7 job.
No shit.
Excuse my French.
And elected officials should be able to support themselves and their families on their government salary without having to rely on family or other outside income.
If salaries are too low, only wealthy individuals will be able to run.