Members of the D.C. Council earn the second-highest salaries of local representatives in major cities nationwide, according to a recent report from The Pew Charitable Trusts.

The Pew report compared the councils of 15 cities nationwide, including the 10 largest,  and averaged all of the members’ salaries. In D.C., the average was $130,538, falling second to the average salary of Los Angeles’ councilors, who earn an average of $178,789 per year.

The 12 regular members of the D.C. Council earn $125,583 per year, while Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown’s salary is $190,000.

According to the Pew report, the D.C. Council also spends the most money — $32.41 per resident — of all the cities included in the study. The District faces a $600 million deficit for next year.

Among cities studied, however, D.C. is unique in that it functions as a city, county and state, possibly accounting for its higher spending, according to the Pew report.

Councilmember Phil Mendelson (D-At Large) said the expanded role of a sitting member of the D.C. Council merited the current pay scale.

“Elected officials’ salaries are paid with public dollars and therefore are fair game for the attention they are getting,” Mendelson said in an email. “Most councilmembers work full time as council members and have broader responsibility than any other legislator in the country …. Thus, our salaries are comparable to other full-time, professional positions.”

In 2006 the council reformulated the schedule of salaries in the District, upping the mayor’s salary to $200,000. Since the councilmembers’ salaries are tied to the mayor’s, their salaries increased as well, according to Councilmember Jack Evans (D-Ward 2).

Evans said that the D.C. salaries are similar to those of other cities, such as New York, which pays councilors $121,725 per year and ranked third in the Pew report.

“Even the Pew study showed that they’re all about the same,” Evans said.

The Pew report also mentioned that while councilmembers designated as part time tended to get lower salaries than full-time council members, this was not the case for the District’s councilmembers. The report acknowledged that the distinction between part time and full-time members is not necessarily telling about how much time the council spends doing its job.