New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
Starting Jan 1, 2019, the base pay for Massachusetts lawmakers will increase by nearly 6 percent – increasing their base salary from $62,547 to $66,256. Lawmakers also get leadership pay and office pay that increases their base pay an additional $22,000 at the minimum and up to an extra $100,000 for the Senate President.
Locally, in 2017 State Senator Mark Montigny earned $65,000 in leadership pay and $20,000 in office expenses and that likely hasn’t decreased as he is listed as the Chairperson on the Joint Committee on Rules, the Chairperson on the Senate Committee on Rules and the Vice Chair on the Joint Committee on Export Development on is State Senate page. That would bring his total takehome pay to $151,256 up from $82,233 in 2016 and 147,548 in 2017.
In 2017, Massachusetts legislators significantly increased leadership pay raises and office expenses – circumventing the State constitution. In 1998, 60% of Massachusetts voters that went to the polls voted to “prohibit state legislators from changing their base pay and instead would adjust that pay according to changes in median household income.” Voters changed the constitution to restrict base pay, but not total compensation. In response, legislators gave themselves significant stipend raises.
