Councilmembers Bill Green and Maria Quiñones-Sánchez have awarded raises to several staff members, Catherine Lucey reported yesterday on the Daily News’ Philly Clout blog.

According to Lucey:

Councilman Bill Green this month gave raises to five of his staffers, including a $30,000 bump to his Chief of Staff Sophie Bryan, bringing her salary to $100,000. In total, Green increased his staff salaries by $42,500 and is now paying $354,720 to his 7-person office, according to city data.

Green, who aggressively advocated for cost-cutting during the city budget hearings, stressed that Bryan, a Harvard-educated attorney, was underpaid.

“I have a very productive and hardworking council staff. Frankly, my chief of staff is overqualified for her position and I needed to pay people appropriately based on their value to City Council and my office,” Green said.

In May, Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez gave small raises to 6 staffers and increased the hourly rate for 2 part-timers, for a total of at least $15,500 more in payroll costs. Her 12-person office now costs $396,300.

Different Council members have staff and budgets of varying sizes.

As Lucey notes, District Council members Marian Tasco and Jannie Blackwell spend the most on their staffs, $594,699 and $526,070 respectively, each for 11 staffers. Other big spenders include Council President Anna Verna, At-Large Council members Blondell Reynolds-Brown and William Greenlee and Fifth District Councilman Darrell Clarke, all using over $400,000 of city money for their offices, according to Council budget documents.

Councilman-At-Large Wilson Goode prides himself on keeping costs down, spending just $250,000 for four staffers. No one else gets by with less than $300,000, although Eighth District Councilwoman Donna Miller comes close at $316,560 for nine staff members.

For what it’s worth, Green and Sánchez each bring home $117,991 , which means Bryan’s salary is creeping up on that of her boss.

We can only imagine that’s what the two of them spend so much time whispering about  during Council meetings. (Bryan: Hey Bill, I’m not writing any more legislation for you until I get a raise. Green: Shhh, check out how well groomed Chief Clerk Michael Decker’s mustache is today.)*

*Conversation did not actually occur. As far as we know.

Total salaries including all Council members, their staffs, and the common staff like the chief clerk and sergeant-at-arms previously accounted for $11.89 million. Before the raises were taken into account, $890,910 more had been allocated for vacancies, so they’ve still got a good chunk of change to play with. We’d suggest supporting pesky news blogs, but that would be unethical.