"It doesn't mean I was on vacation. ... I was probably in the district at the time."

AM:

As City Council members mull giving themselves a 25% raise, an amNewYork review of individual attendance records found plenty of room for improvement -- particularly in the case of three legislators who have missed a quarter of their meetings so far this year.

The 51 members of the Council (a job that's officially part time and pays between $90,000 to $118,050 a year) had a collective absentee rate of 12% during the first nine months of the year, the analysis showed.

The three councilmen with the worst records. Joel Rivera (D-Bronx), Miguel Martinez (D- Manhattan) and Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn) missed 26% of their scheduled meetings, the amNewYork analysis showed.

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