Pay raises are on the horizon for all of the elected officials in Mount Vernon.

On Wednesday, the Mount Vernon City Council voted to increase the salaries for its members, the mayor, and the comptroller.

This decision comes after 17 years of no adjustments to their salaries. While Councilman Ed Poteet abstained from the vote, the legislation still passed with four “yes” votes.

Under the approved resolution, the mayor's salary will increase nearly 40%, going from $143,000 to $200,000 annually. Councilmembers' salaries will rise 51.52% from $33,000 to $50,000 annually. The comptroller is going from $128,000 to $185,000, or nearly 45% bump.

The vote occurred amidst financial concerns, with city Comptroller Reverend Darren Morton highlighting that the city owes $6.2 million to the Mount Vernon School District from uncollected taxes. Some community members voiced frustration over the raises they believe the council and mayor do not deserve.

One speaker at the meeting expressed concern, stating, "The New York state comptroller says Mount Vernon school system is in jeopardy of being able to continue on. But you all want raises. You have some nerve. You do not give raises for substandard performance."

Another community member warned of potential consequences, stating, "This increase in salary, which y'all are going to be weak and vote for, is going to bring us not only into financial ruin as taxpayers, but it's going to hurt employees because you're going to have to cut the budget, which means you're going to lay off people. So for all those people who were forced into voting for you are now going to be homeless."

Additionally, community members voiced their frustrations in the comments section of the meeting's Facebook live stream, emphasizing that raises should go to essential services like the fire and police departments, and elected officials should not be granting themselves raises.

The city clerk's office says these raises are set to go into effect by Monday.