Ottawa Mayor Larry O'Brien refused Monday to respond to a jab from the city manager directed at O'Brien's promise to freeze taxes for the next three years.

Kent Kirkpatrick was cited in Monday's Ottawa Citizen as saying that city service cuts are needed even if Ottawa hikes property taxes by 4.8 per cent and forgoes most, if not all, planned new programs and service enhancements.

But when asked by reporters about the story Monday morning, O'Brien replied, "I take it you're referring to some headline in one of the newspapers in the city? I don't read that particular newspaper so I can't comment."

The mayor is expected to unveil his plan for keeping taxes low in a speech next week.

O'Brien has already come out in support of a two per cent tax "levy" to pay for repairs to infrastructure, as well as a 1.4 per cent increase in the police budget, despite his 2006 election promise to freeze property taxes for four years.