Small donors would become big campaign players under a proposal Tuesday by the mayor’s Charter Revision Commission, which suggested nearly doubling the public match for an individual contributions to $2,000.
The commission preliminarily approved ballot proposals that would go before voters in November that reduce the influence of large donors and bolster the impact of the small guys.
The maximum allowable contribution would be cut from $5,100 to $2,000.
At the same time, donations of up to $250 would be matched at an extraordinary 8-to-1 basis, nearly doubling the current maximum public payout for each donation from $1,050 to $2,000.
The current match is 6-to-1 for contributions that don’t exceed $175.
For mayoral candidates, the proposal raises the total maximum public payout to roughly $10.8 million per election cycle, up from $8 million.
“I do have concerns with the dollar amounts, and I do worry of a bad economy coming in the future and adding additional burdens on New York City taxpayers,” said Carlo Scissura, CEO of the New York Building Congress and the lone commission member to vote “no” on a resolution to draft the ballot proposals.
The commission also preliminarily approved ballot proposals to establish a Civic Engagement Commission to boost voter registration and voting turnout.
The group considered but punted on the issue of ranked voting, which would allow voters to rank their choices of candidates rather than selecting just one.