Chris Helms
City Councilor Matt O\'Malley, District 6, addresses the crowd at his Town Hall meeting on Wednesday, March 26, 2014.
The city councilor who represents Jamaica Plain was one of four "no" votes as City Council voted itself a $20,000 raise.
The move hikes city council salaries from $87,500 to $107,500, starting with councilors elected in 2015.
The measure passed 9-4, enough to override any mayoral veto. But District 6 Councilor Matt O'Malley, who represents JP and West Roxbury, was one of the nays. Instead, he pushed a failed measure that would have tied increases to the average median income in Boston.
"It's important to take the mechanism outside councilors' hands," O'Malley told Jamaica Plain News in a Wednesday interview.
While Councilor Tito Jackson argued for the raise, saying city councilors shouldn't have to risk poverty to serve the public, O'Malley said he thought the sharp increases proposed all along were too high.
"I believe I have the best job in the world," O'Malley said Wednesday. "Serving as a city councilor is an extreme privilege."
For a detailed report on the vote, please visit Universal Hub.