By Corey Ribotsky
Before Zohran Mamdani has even taken the oath of office, the incoming Democratic Socialist mayor is about to confront a question that will define his administration:
Does “affordability for all” include elected officials — or just everyone else?
Because the City Council, packed with supporters of Mamdani’s agenda, is poised to hand itself a generous welcome present: a $24,000 salary hike, boosting pay for rank-and-file members from $148,500 to $172,500.
This isn’t inflation catching up. It’s a political class quietly upgrading its lifestyle on the eve of a self-proclaimed “transformational” mayor taking office.
And make no mistake — the bill will land on Mamdani’s desk almost immediately.
For a politician who built his career railing against “corporate greed,” “special privileges,” and “rigged systems,” signing off on the City Council’s own enrichment might be the quickest way imaginable to expose the double standard that haunts every so-called progressive revolution once it becomes responsible for governing.
A raise that was too awkward to mention before Election Day
Funny how no one talked about these raises during the campaign.
Mamdani and the council’s left flank spent months blasting landlords, developers, hedge funds, Uber, and Wall Street for raising prices and “extracting value.” Yet not one of them bothered to mention that the political class was preparing to extract a little more for itself, too.
Only after the votes were counted did the raise suddenly become “urgent,” with 31 of 51 council members rushing to sponsor the bill.
If this is the transparency Mamdani means when he says he wants a “new political culture,” New Yorkers should brace themselves.
Democratic Socialism meets diamond-plated benefits
The raise is only the headline. The real story is the benefits attached to that salary — benefits that would make even the most generous private-sector employer blush.
Council members receive:
- Zero-premium, zero-deductible health insurance for themselves and their dependents
- Lifetime coverage for many
- Taxpayer-backed pensions, exempt from state taxes
Try finding any of that in the real world.
To replicate the council’s family health plan on the private market would cost roughly $38,000 a year. New Yorkers — many juggling two jobs and deductibles the size of rent payments — are paying for that.
And remember: these are the same officials who preach “equity.”
If Mamdani signs off on this package, New Yorkers should prepare to hear a new definition of “equity” — the version where government officials get champagne benefits while taxpayers settle for seltzer.
A Socialist mayor can’t look the other way
Mamdani has spent years championing workers’ rights, denouncing special treatment for elites, and promising a government that finally shares the sacrifices of ordinary people.
Here’s his chance to prove he meant it.
How does a Democratic Socialist defend a political class that already earns more than double the city’s median household income — and is now demanding an even larger gap?
How does he justify allowing elected officials to collect pensions that almost no workers in the private sector still get?
How does he approve raises and perks that will add to a city budget already buckling under soaring pension costs, exploding health-care spending, and looming deficits?
If he rubber-stamps this raise, Mamdani will signal something unmistakable:
His version of “socialism” applies only to the governed — not the governors.
Health-care hypocrisy on full display
Mamdani has attacked private companies for cutting benefits or raising costs. Yet city spending on employee health care has doubled in a decade — from $4 billion to over $8 billion — because the political class refuses to contribute even modestly to its own plans.
Even New York State legislators pay a portion of their health premiums. So do MTA employees. So do workers across the Mid-Atlantic region, who contribute between 19% and 27% on average.
But not the City Council.
If Mamdani allows this system to continue untouched, how can he credibly lecture anyone about economic fairness?
Pensions: the most unsocialist perk of all
Pensions are a privilege enjoyed by barely one in seven American workers today. Yet City Council members — many of whom serve brief political stints, not 30-year careers — walk away with taxpayer-funded lifetime guarantees.
New York City’s pension bill is projected to top $11.5 billion within three years. And some of Mamdani’s closest ideological allies are pushing Albany to expand benefits even further, including lowering retirement ages and undoing earlier cost-saving reforms.
If the mayor-elect signs off on the council’s raise without demanding structural reforms, he will be endorsing a two-tiered system where politicians enjoy the retirement security everyone else pays for but cannot obtain.
Some “solidarity.”
Mamdani’s credibility is on the line
Mamdani campaigned as the antidote to “politics as usual.”
Now, politics as usual is testing him on Day One.
If he vetoes the raise or conditions his approval on benefit reforms, he will send a powerful signal: that he intends to govern differently, fairly, and consistently with his rhetoric.
If he signs it without a fight, he will confirm what many skeptics have long suspected — that “Democratic Socialism” in New York is just the same old insider system wrapped in new moral language.
And taxpayers will be left footing a bill that the city can no longer pretend it can afford.
His first decision as mayor isn’t symbolic.
It’s revealing.
And New Yorkers should pay close attention to whether Zohran Mamdani chooses principle — or privilege.
RibotskyInstitute.com 
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