Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s reelection will come with a $43,000 raise, which means she will receive $250,000 in 2026.
Wu and the Boston city council will receive salary increases in 2026 as part of legislation passed by the council in 2022.
The Boston Herald wrote:
The pay increases that will be seen next year were a source of contention at the time of the proposed legislation in 2022.
The City Council opted to vote for a tiered increase after the body’s initial vote to hike its pay to $125,000 starting in 2024 was vetoed by Mayor Wu. Under that tiered structure, councilors saw their salaries increase from $103,500 to $115,000 in 2024, $120,000 in 2025, and will see a final salary increase of $125,000 in 2026.
City council members will receive a $5,000 pay increase, raising their pay to $125,000 annually. The mayor’s salary is usually twice that of city councillors.
City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune had presented the projected salary increase as a compromise with other councillors who wanted a greater increase. Louijeune said that the 2026 salary figure would align with other majority cities’ pay. Wu echoed the sentiment of some other councillors, who had expressed concerns about receiving such a substantial hike in salary compared to lower-income city employees, the Union-Bulletin said.
The Union-Bulletin reported:
As for the City Council, all 12 incumbents who won reelection last week will benefit from a $5,000 raise in January, as will the newest councilor, Miniard Culpepper, who won the only open seat vacated by disgraced former Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson.
The Roxbury-centric District 7 seat won by Culpepper has been vacant since early July when Fernandes Anderson resigned after being convicted on federal corruption charges tied to a City Hall kickback scheme. She is serving a monthlong prison sentence and is set to be released on Saturday.
Wu was reelected in the general election November 4 after she had defeated Josh Kraft, the son of billionaire New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, by 49 percent in the September primary election. Kraft dropped out of the mayoral election after losing the primary.
President Donald Trump has threatened to pull the 2026 FIFA World Cup games from Boston should Wu decline to crack down on crime.
“We can take them away. I love the people of Boston. And I know the games are sold out, but the mayor is not good. There are worse than her. At least she’s intelligent. You know, some are extremely low IQ. Those bother me more. She’s intelligent, but she’s radical left,” Trump said in mid-October.
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