Boston City Council

The Boston City Council is the legislative branch of government for the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is made up of 13 members: 9 district representatives and 4 at-large members. Councillors are elected to two-year terms and there is no limit on the number of terms an individual can serve. Boston uses a strong-mayor form of government in which the city council acts as a check against the power of the executive branch, the mayor. The Council is responsible for approving the city budget; monitoring, creating, and abolishing city agencies; making land use decisions; and approving, amending, or rejecting other legislative proposals.

The leader of the City Council is the president and is elected each year by the Council. A majority vote (7–6) is necessary to elect a councilor to president. When the mayor travels out of state or is removed from office, the City Council president serves as acting mayor. The president leads Council meetings and appoints councillors to committees.

By law Boston municipal elections are nonpartisan in that candidates do not represent a specific political party. However, most city councillors have been members of the Democratic party. John W. Sears was the first Republican elected to the Council, in 1980. Chuck Turner, previous Councilman for District 7, was a member of the Green-Rainbow Party.

The City Council currently has the following committees:

City Councillors are currently paid an annual salary of $99,500. The salary for councillors is half of the mayor's salary, currently $199,500. Every four years, the Council votes on whether or not to raise the mayor's salary, thereby also raising its own salary or not.

City Council salaries since 1980:

Prior to 1909, Boston's legislative body consisted of an eight-member Board of Aldermen and a Common Council made up of three representatives from each of the 25 wards in the city. When the Boston city charter was rewritten in 1909, the Board of Aldermen and the Common Council were replaced by a nine-member City Council. All nine councillors were elected at-large for terms lasting two years. The new charter also gave the Mayor the power to veto all acts of the City Council. The first council meeting as a unicameral body occurred on February 7, 1910.

...
Wikipedia