Ottawa's mayor and city councillors have scaled back their raises after a salary formula generated much higher pay hikes than expected.

Source: City of Ottawa

	Mayor	Councillors
2006 salary:	$140,000	$70,000
2007 salary, as estimated in 2004:	$140,000 to $159,000	$70,000 to $87,000
2007 salary, as estimated in November:	$172,000	$94,600
What they opted for in 2007:	$160,000	$87,500

In 2004, the previous council approved raises based on a formula that calculates the mayor's salary from the salaries of politicians at other levels of government and mayors in other cities. City councillors' salaries were calculated as a percentage of the mayor's.

In November, it was revealed that pay hikes for those other politicians since 2004 caused the formula to generate unexpectedly high raises for 2007.

The salary for Mayor Larry O'Brien was to jump from to $172,000 from $140,000 in 2007, while city councillors would each get raises of $24,600, bringing their salaries to $94,600.

Coun. Alex Cullen said Tuesday that council had changed its mind about using the new numbers generated by the formula. Instead, it is going with the 2004 estimates.

"That's what we thought the public was willing to accept," he said.

Now the mayor's 2007 salary has been set at $160,000 and councillors will be paid $87,500, which is close to the range expected in 2004.

Council has also decided to throw out the salary formula and instead set increases to the consumer price index or the wage increases of city employees — whichever is less.