City officials quietly OK raises for one another

Mayor, comptroller, council collect as others do without

Sun Exclusive

But the Board of Estimates has to approve all significant city expenditures, said Ian Brennan, the mayor's spokesman. The pay increase was included with hundreds of other items on the board's agenda deemed to be noncontroversial and adopted together. Each member abstained on the vote for their own salary. The board's other two members, who are mayoral appointees, voted for each raise.

Ryan O'Doherty, a spokesman for Rawlings-Blake, who chairs the Board of Estimates, said the compensation commission was designed to "take the politics out of the process" of deciding politicians' pay raises. He declined to comment on why there was not any discussion about the vote.

The city's worsening financial situation is discussed often at Dixon's public events. Yesterday, while delivering remarks to city employees completing a leadership program, she said: "What we are going to have to do is do more with less and think smarter as we do it."

"Hopefully we don't have to impact people and their families," Dixon said. "But there is no guarantee we won't have layoffs."

Asked later whether the mayor would forgo pay raises next year, Brennan said that "everything is on the table."

When asked whether she would decline the raise, Clarke, the councilwoman, said: "Absolutely."