Several state legislators are collecting money to sue New York over the pay increase they received at the beginning of the year.

State Assemblyman Andy Goodell, R-Jamestown, said he “wrote a check” this week to help fund the lawsuit over the pay increase he feels is unconstitutional because it was awarded by the state Committee on Legislative and Executive Compensation instead of being approved by the state Assembly and Senate.

“This week or next week I will be joining several of my colleagues in the lawsuit,” Goodell said. “We’re challenging that it was unconstitutionally done by a handpicked commission.”

Goodell said he created a special bank account to store the additional salary he has been receiving since the beginning of the year. If the pay increase is ruled unconstitutional, state lawmakers will have to return the additional compensation to the state.

“Last year, I voted against creating the (state Committee on Legislative and Executive Compensation),” he said. “It is unconstitutional to give (the ability to increase state legislators pay) to a handpicked committee. It is supposed to be done by lawmakers. After the recommendations, I called for a Assembly Speaker (Carl) Heastie (D-New York City) to call for a special session to vote it down. No special session was called.”

The state Committee on Legislative and Executive Compensation approved a 64 percent increase to be phased in during the next three years, with legislator pay going from $79,500 a year to $110,000, with additional increases in 2020 and 2021 that will bump the total compensation to $130,000.

The committee also recommended increasing the pay of the governor from the current $179,000 salary to $250,000 in 2021, which was approved in the 2019-20 state budget. Goodell said he voted against the governor’s pay increase as well.

“The legislature also passed a resolution given the governor a huge salary increase to make him the highest paid in the nation,” Goodell said. “Even though New York leads the nation with people leaving the state, leads the nation in taxes, top five in terms of debt and at the bottom in economic performance. Now I don’t mind a salary increase to a CEO who has a company performing well. Can you imagine a CEO coming to a board of directors that says they’re doing worse than their competitors, losing market share and the company is doing very poorly, but expects a pay raise.”

The state budget also included a pay increase for Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul who will see her pay rise to $220,000 in 2021 under the resolution.