Ottawa's mayor-elect Larry O'Brien is accepting a $32,000 pay raise, apparently reversing the position on city council wage hikes that he took during the fall election campaign.

O'Brien, who campaigned on a four-year tax freeze, will be sworn in as mayor on Friday.

Larry O'Brien campaigned for a four-year tax-freeze, but that doesn't mean a freeze will apply to his salary.
(CBC)

In January, after only a month in office, O'Brien's salary will jump 23 per cent from $140,000 a year to $172,000, pushing his compensation $12,000 above that of Toronto Mayor David Miller.

Councillor wage hikes will be tied to the mayor's, so councillors who accept the raise will see their salaries jump 35 per cent to $94,600 from $70,000.

'It's hard for me to understand how they could vote themselves a raise.' —Larry O'Brien on Nov. 1

The raises are the result of a vote in council in 2004 that hiked city councillors' 2007 salaries.

Mike Patton, a spokesman for O'Brien, confirmed Thursday that the mayor-elect plans to accept the raise. 

Several Ottawa media outlets reported Thursday that O'Brien is encouraging councillors to do the same, as they will be working hard.

But in an English interview with Radio-Canada on Nov. 1, O'Brien said he was not sure how council ended up approving the raises in the first place.

"It's hard for me to understand how they could vote themselves a raise," he said, adding that he believed the raises needed to be ratified again by the new council. "I would recommend against that."

Patton said it turns out the raise does not need to be ratified by the new council. However, he said O'Brien will bring the topic of pay raises up in council at budget time.

The changes to compensation were recommended by a citizens panel in 2004. The panel tied the mayor's compensation to a formula based on the salaries of other mayors, city managers and politicians from other levels of government. It also made councillors' salaries 55 per cent of the mayor's.        

	Mayor	Councillors
Salary (2006)	$140,000	$70,000
Salary (2007)	$172,000	$94,600
Raise	$32,000	$24,600
Raise (percentage)	23%	35%
Anticipated 2007 salary	$140,000 to $159,000	$70,000 to $87,000
Amount that actual salary exceeds expected	$13,000 to $32,000	$7,600 to $24,000

   
At the time of the vote, it was estimated that the mayor would end up being paid $140,000 to $159,000 and councillors would get $70,000 to $87,000.

However, pay raises for the other people within the formula have resulted in the raises being significantly higher than anticipated — at least $13,000 higher for the mayor and at least $7,600 higher for councillors.

Four of the returning councillors are opting not to take the raise: Rainer Bloess (Ward 2, Innes), Doug Thompson (Ward 20, Osgoode), Eli El-Chantiry (Ward 5 West Carleton) and Gord Hunter (Ward 9, Knoxdale-Merivale).

Among the four newly elected councillors, Steve Desroches (Ward 22, Gloucester-South Nepean) has decided to take the raise.

The other three new councillors, Christine Leadman (Ward 15, Kitchissippi), Marianne Wilkinson (Ward 4, Kanata North) and Shad Qadri (Ward 6, Stittsville-Kanata West) have five days to decide whether they will accept the pay hike.