Port Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore says a city councillor's pay hasn't increased in 15 years.

Port Coquitlam councillors have voted to give themselves and the mayor hefty pay raises.

At a meeting Monday night, council voted in favour of a 27 per cent increase for the mayor, which would raise his pay to $85,418 a year from $67,277.

City councillors will get a 42 per cent raise, bringing their pay to $31,654, up from $22,257.

Speaking to CBC News before the vote, Mayor Greg Moore said it was high time to decide whether the city's elected officials deserved more money.

"The City of Port Coquitlam, councillors and mayor, hasn't had a raise in 15 years," he said.

"It was long overdue, and every year that we waited we got further and further apart in the differences between other municipalities and ourselves, so when you have to make the decision, the gap is really big."

Community and Rural Development Minister Ben Stewart said the city should implement smaller raises more often.

"They don't look like they're in step with a lot of economic times people are facing," he said.

"However, in a community like Port Coquitlam, where they haven't dealt with this issue for 15 years, they need to establish more regular reviews of it and not leave it for so long."

Moore was the ninth highest-paid mayor in the Lower Mainland. The new pay raise brings him up one spot to number eight.

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson is the highest paid mayor in the region, getting $140,0001 a year.