Boston, MA – September 15: Michelle Wu, City Councilor At-Large and Candidate for Mayor greets commuters at the Forest Hills T stop in Boston, MA on September 15, 2021. (Photo by Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has vetoed a bill that would have raised the salaries of the mayor and city councilors.
The bill would have increased councilors' salaries from $103,500 to $125,000 and the mayor's salary from $207,000 to $250,000.
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Wu had initially proposed more modest salary increases, but the City Council voted to bring those figures higher.
The mayor said in her veto letter that she didn't feel that it was right to adopt increases that were out of line with salary hikes included in recent contract agreements with city unions.
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"Like all our workers, our elected officials should receive salary increases, but they should square with the increases that our frontline workers have received and are receiving in the contracts that we continue to settle," Wu said, urging the council instead to adopt the increases she had originally proposed, which would have brought the mayor's salary to $230,000 and city councilors to $115,000.
The council could still override the mayor's veto with a two-third vote, according to The Boston Globe.
If approved, the raises wouldn't go into effect until 2026 for the mayor and 2024 for councilors.
