By Nikita Stewart
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 15, 2006

The D.C. Council postponed voting on whether to give $48,000 raises to the mayor-elect and council chairman-elect, and a proposal to boost the pay of council members by almost the same amount was withdrawn yesterday.

The lame duck council has at least one more chance to enact pay increases when it returns for its next meeting Dec. 5. A new council and mayor-elect will take office Jan. 2.

Under the original proposal, a council member's salary would have jumped more than 51 percent, from $92,530 to $140,000. The mayor's salary would go to $200,000 and the chairman's salary to $190,000.

But council member Vincent B. Orange Sr. (D-Ward 5), sponsor of the council pay bill, substituted his proposal with one giving council members a smaller, $30,000 raise, increasing their pay to $122,530. Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large) introduced a separate bill setting the pay at $115,000.

Any of the proposed increases would make the District's council members the highest paid in the region. Montgomery County Council members will receive $89,721 next year. Prince George's County Council members will get $89,000.

Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp (D) said the mayor's salary should be on par with those of other big-city mayors and governors, a comparison she drew while noting that the District at times functions as a state as well as a city. The mayor's salary currently ranks 11th among the nation's mayors, she said.

Mayor-elect Adrian M. Fenty and council Chairman-elect Vincent C. Gray, who are currently council members, recused themselves from voting or discussing the issue.

The council members last received pay increases in January 1999. Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) and Cropp, as council chairman, are on a federal schedule and have received cost-of-living raises.

Like several other council members, Graham said yesterday that he never entered politics for the money. But he said he now sees a disparity between pay for the council and the two top jobs.

The council voted 10 to 1 to remove the proposed raises from a transition bill approved yesterday that will fund the transition teams of Fenty and Gray. The city will pay $250,000 for Fenty's transition operations and $150,000 for Gray's. The bill also puts $2 million into the council's budget next year to be spent on office support.

Raises for Fenty and Gray are likely to be coupled with the final draft of a bill elevating the pay for council members, Mendelson said.

In addition to Orange and Mendelson's salary proposals, the council will consider a plan by Gray to create a five-member independent panel that would review salaries and make recommendations.

Mendelson's bill also would create a review panel, but it would have seven members.

Council members will also have to discuss whether they can get around a federal law that prohibits council members who did not run for reelection this year from getting the raise. Council members Marion Barry (D-Ward 8), Kwame R. Brown (D-At Large), Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) and Carol Schwartz (R-At Large) would not be eligible under the law.

In other action, the council approved an emergency bill that allows exceptions for businesses that are within 400 feet of a school, college or District-operated recreation area applying for liquor licenses. D.C. law prohibits such proximity, but the bill will allow exceptions for businesses in commercial areas.

Staff writers Ann E. Marimow and Rosalind S. Helderman contributed to this report.