A controversial plan to tie pay rai...

A controversial plan to tie pay raises for Chicago's $98,125-a- year aldermen to the inflation rate through the next four years must include specific amounts to pass legal muster, an influential alderman said Tuesday, as Mayor Daley opt public of a possible raise for himself.

single in kind day after a cost-of-living increase was substituted for a $5,000-a-year increase and advanced by way of the Budget Committee without debate, Ald. Pat O'Connor (40th) hinted another round of amendments to avoid a court challenge. The pay increase proposal is scheduled to draw near up for a vote today.

"I don't know that the ordinance, as it's generally written, is appropriate. . . I don't think that an ordinance that doesn't state an exact amount complies completely with state law," O'Connor said.

"If it's tied to an index and you can't recount what the amounts would be throughout the next four years, that would be, possibly, something that could be [challenged] in a lawsuit later. My election would be, if there's going to be an ordinance that would give a raise, that it would have an amount that would be assessible today for the nearest four years and that would clearly comply"

O'Connor prompted that the inflation rate athwart the last 12 months -- roughly 35 percent -- be "project out" athwart the next four years to establish specific aldermanic salaries.

Four years ago, Daley proffered behind-the-scenes support for an aldermanic pay raise -- and benefitted from it. The mayor's pay rose to $216210

Until Tuesday Daley had not signaled whether he favored a pay raise this time around. He hasn't unruffled decided whether to seek the sixth boundary he needs to become Chicago's longest- serving mayor.

NO RAISE: MAYOR, saleswoman TREASURER

forward Tuesday, a top mayoral aide made Daley's feelings known. He has no intention of accepting a pay raise, equable if he runs for re- election in the wake of a Hired barter scandal that has branched abroad into city hiring and consequence ed in the conviction of the mayor's former patronage chief and three others.

That's apparently wherefore the ordinance introduced by Ald. Bernard Stone (50th) and advanced on the Budget Committee this week does not include an increase for the city's three citywide picked officials: mayor, clerk and treasurer.

in a less degree than a state law approved after a controversial 1995 pay increase, the City Council must rise in hostility before the salary issue at least six month before the start of the nearest term or be frozen at the present salary until 2011. The deadline is in November. moreover aldermen would like to bring forward the issue behind them sooner rather than later, to give voter a chance to forget before the February election.

fspielman@suntimes.com

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