Pay Raise Measure Advances

Brown Questions End-of-Session Timing, Scant Public Input

The D.C. Council gave preliminary approval yesterday to salary increases of $48,000 a year for the District mayor and council chairman and $22,470 increases for council members starting next year.

In an 8 to 3 vote, the council agreed to a $200,000 salary for incoming mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D); $190,000 for the chairman-elect, Vincent C. Gray (D); and $115,000 for council members. Under city law, the bill must pass a final reading, scheduled at a Dec. 19 council session, before it becomes law.

Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) had asked the council to raise his successor's salary to be competitive with those of other mayors across the country and the city's administrative staff. At a public hearing in October, Williams said at least five city employees received more than he does. Under the city charter, the council chairman's salary is always $10,000 less than the mayor's.

Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), who proposed the new council salary, said the increase was equal to the cost-of-living rise over the past eight years. Council members last received raises in January 1999, but the increase makes them the highest-paid council members in the region.

Council members Kwame R. Brown (D-At Large), Kathy Patterson (D-Ward 3) and Carol Schwartz (R-At Large) dissented. Fenty (D-Ward 4) and Gray (D-Ward 7) recused themselves.

Brown said in an interview that he thought the council had not received sufficient public input on the proposal. He also questioned the timing of the raise at the end of the year. "The last second, the last days, the last hour?" he asked.

In other business, the council gave initial approval with a vote of 12 to 0 for a new Comprehensive Plan, a 20-year road map for the city that concentrates development around Metro stations, pushes for the construction of affordable housing and outlines how neighborhoods should look.

The plan had been controversial as smart-growth advocates pushed the council to approve the plan and the D.C. Federation of Citizens Associations, the Committee of 100 and other neighborhood groups pushed the council to delay voting on the plan until next year. But the 500-page plan was approved after several amendments were added.

In a separate vote, the council agreed unanimously to give preliminary approval to use $245 million in tobacco-settlement funds for a health plan that will fund primary and urgent-care facilities on the east side of the city, cancer prevention and smoking-cessation programs, and tackle chronic disease.

The original bill specified that ambulatory-care centers would be built in Wards 7 and 8 and a major 24-hour healthplex constructed on the grounds of the former D.C. General Hospital. It also directed millions of dollars to improve emergency services at Howard University Hospital and Greater Southeast Community Hospital. The bill was amended to read that funding will be reserved to "construct health care facilities," with no specifics. The Rand Corp. will first conduct a $1.5 million assessment of the city's health-care needs.

In its last item of business yesterday, the D.C. Council rejected a frantic attempt to move forward with the construction of a $275 million downtown central library, which has been seen as Williams's legacy to the city.

The Council Committee on Education, Libraries and Recreation voted 3 to 2 last month to keep the legislation in committee for more study. Opposing council members said they had questions about the cost of the project and whether the flagship Martin Luther King Jr. Library could be renovated.