After getting a $36,000 raise last year, Mayor Brian U. Stratton wants a 3 percent salary increase for 2009, and has requested his travel budget be almost tripled as part of next year’s budget.

City Council members said Stratton is going against an agreement made at the time of the salary hike in March 2007 that stated no annual salary increases would be considered until he, or another mayor, started a new term.

But Corporation Counsel L. John Van Norden said the Council never amended the language in the city’s charter, and that it currently calls for the mayor to get the same increase as other nonunionized members. Stratton referred his comments to Van Norden’s legal explanation.

Also, Stratton wants to spend $10,000 on travel next year, after spending $2,286 in 2007 and $9,600 so far this year. Some City Council members say although the amount is miniscule compared to the overall $76.6 million proposed budget, it’s the wrong message to send to city residents who are cutting back themselves because of the faltering economy.

The mayor’s budget includes a 2.9 percent property tax increase for residents.

“It’s more symbolic than structural,” City Councilman Gary McCarthy said of the mayor’s travel expenditure. “I think there should be some justification for what the money should be spent for.”

City Council approved Stratton’s 60 percent raise from $60,500 to $96,706 last year in order to catch the mayor’s position up with what other municipalities pay. City Council members who started a new term in 2008 also got a raise, from $9,800 to $14,093 a year. Stratton’s 2009 proposed budget requests his salary bump to $99,607. There are no City Council raises included.

The Times Union filed a Freedom of Information request in August for Stratton’s travel records. But as of Wednesday, the city had not filled the request. City Council votes on the budget Saturday.

Source: Times Union