An independent commission, authorized by the city charter, recommended that the council members' salaries be increased by $9,000 a year next year--from their current $75,000 annually to $84,000 in fiscal 2006--and another $3,360 the next year to $87,360 in fiscal 2007. The commission also recommended boosting the mayor's salary from $105,000 to $117,600 and then to $122,304 over the same time span.

Gonzales, Councilwoman Nora Campos and Vice Mayor Cindy Chavez said they were in favor of the commission's recommendations.

Campos made a motion to accept the commission's report, but when Gonzales asked for a second, the council chambers was silent.

"No second?" Gonzales asked. "I'll second that."

Gonzales, Campos and Chavez were the only members of the council to vote yes.

The city is facing a multi-million-dollar budget deficit and the city manager's budget recommendation includes the possibility of scores of layoffs, including public safety employees. While salary increases might help draw more qualified candidates for city council and the mayor's office, the majority of the council members said this was not the time to give themselves raises.

The right time is "when revenues are rising faster than expenditures, and that's certainly not happening now," said Councilman Chuck Reed, who, along with fellow council member David Cortese, is running for mayor. While Chavez has not declared her candidacy for the office, she is expected to run for mayor as well.

Councilwoman Linda LeZotte and Councilman Ken Yeager offered an alternative option of a smaller raise. In their proposal, the council would get a $3,980 raise in 2007 and the mayor's salary would be increased by $5,572.

"These increases are commensurate with those negotiated by the city with its various employee bargaining units for the next two fiscal years," according to a memo jointly released by Yeager and LeZotte. "The salaries of the mayor and council, as well as their staffs, have been frozen for the past two years. By acknowledging a difficult city budget and a lackluster economy, the current recommendation is a compromise."

That proposal received only two "yes" votes from LeZotte and Yeager.