Newark Mayor Ras Baraka will earn another $50,000 a year, boosting his salary to $180,000 after the city council on Tuesday approved pay increases for him and his top administrators.

The mayor’s 38 percent wage boost is retroactive to July 1, 2018. The council also set higher salary ranges for 24 positions like departmental directors, aides in the mayor’s office and aides to council members. City officials say they have not seen pay increases in 12 years.

“Not every person will go to the top of the range,” Business Administrator Eric Pennington said. Where employees fall on the new pay scales will be determined by performance, budget constraints and comparable salaries elsewhere.

The salaries for city clerk and deputy city clerk were increased to $175,000 and $140,000, respectively.

Baraka is in his second term in office and has presided over his city of 280,000 amid new investment and growth. But the city continues to grapple with long-standing issues like crime and poverty and, more recently, elevated lead levels in the drinking water.

Pennington said the mayor’s increase, from $130,221 a year, was long overdue. “The current mayor makes less than his predecessor and his predecessor’s predecessor,” he said.

Other mayors in the state top $190,000 when including pensions and other public jobs.

On Tuesday, the council also approved an ordinance on first reading that would give the mayor the option to receive an annual $30,000 allowance in lieu of expenses. The allowance is a $5,000 increase from his prior expense account.

A second ordinance, pertaining to council members, would eliminate their expense accounts and roll their $12,000-$14,000 allowances into their salaries.

Both ordinances were added to the council agenda late, with the council ordinance causing confusion -- and frustration -- among some.

“These kind of issues have to be discussed and vetted out ahead of time," North Ward Councilman Anibal Ramos said. “I don’t understand how this kind of stuff shows up.”

Based on the wording of the ordinance, council president Mildred Crump thought she was voting on salary increases for staff in her department, but they were already covered by a previous measure.

City Clerk Kenneth Louis said Newark was complying with a 2013 requirement by the state comptroller to eliminate the council’s expense accounts. The ordinance also gives the members a cost of living increase, the first since 2006.

Council member salaries would be $95,000 total, and the council president would earn $105,000. They currently earn $64,000 and $71,000 respectively, without counting expense accounts, payroll records show.

Kevin Simpson, president of the Newark Firefighters Union, said he supported pay increases for administrators but urged the city to make sure all of its employees also get a share. He joined more than a dozen firefighters who filled council chambers. The union and the Newark Fire Officers Union, are both in ongoing contract negotiations with the city.

“I’m all about everybody eating,” Simpson told NJ Advance Media. He said the city’s firehouses are dilapidated and the fire department’s vehicles are outdated. “The key word is fair," he said.

Karen Yi may be reached at kyi@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @karen_yi or on Facebook. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.com’s newsletters.