This article was corrected to note the motion to reject raises for city council members and the mayor failed 6-5.

ANN ARBOR, MI - City Council was divided Monday, Oct. 16, on whether members and the mayor should receive a raise.

After debate on whether the raises were necessary or deserved, a motion to cancel the scheduled raises failed, with six of the eight votes it needed to pass.

Five council members, including Mayor Christopher Taylor, voted against the resolution to reject the raises.

The Local Officers Compensation Commission previously recommended council members and the mayor receive 2.2-percent raises each year for the next two years, based on pay increases granted to elected officials in other cities.

Council members currently make $16,232 a year. The mayor's salary is $43,285.

The raises are scheduled to automatically take effect, unless the council were to vote to halt the pay hike.

Councilman Jack Eaton sought to do just that this week, proposing the raises for members be rejected. He said he is in favor of city workers receiving pay increases.

Eaton pointed to the council's refusal to to publicly disclose information on the city's train station project, and its decision not to put a long-debated Library Lot proposal before voters, as reasons for members not to give themselves raises.

"Over the last year or so, on occasion, we have done things that haven't really pleased our constituents," he said.

Council members Zachary Ackerman and Julie Grand said they did not agree with tying the council's pay to how they vote, although they both initially had other reasons to reject the raises. Grand ended up voting in favor of the raises.

"I'm even more insulted by the idea that because votes don't go your way, that means you think we're not doing a good job as a council," Grand said in response to Eaton's statement. "That does not sit well with me either."

Multiple council members said they would perform the civic service for no compensation, and they think of their current $16,232 annual pay as more of a stipend than a salary intended to compensate them for their time and effort.

"I would do this job for free. The fact that it has a small salary associated with it isn't part of the job," Ackerman said.

Councilman Chuck Warpehoski said the city council pay allowed him to reduce his hours at his day job and dedicate a sufficient amount of time to his city council duties.

"I would not be able to do this job - or I would be able to do only a shadow of it - were it not for the stipend that's present," he said. "... It's what makes the numbers work for my household

Eliminating pay for city council members, as some suggested on Monday, would narrow the pool of people who can afford to serve on the city council, Warpehoski added.

"I'm fortunate to be able to spend my leisure time doing this, and I don't disrespect anyone who depends on this stipend for their family," Ackerman responded.

Ann Arbor City Council members will make $16,589 in the 2018-19 fiscal year and $16,954 in the 2019-20 fiscal year.

The mayor's pay will go from the current salary of $43,285 to $44,237 next year and $45,210 the year after that. Ann Arbor's mayor is a part-time position.

In all, the council and mayor salaries will cost the city an extra $9,146 in two years, compared to what is spent on their salaries today.

Taylor said it is his practice to vote in support of whatever the LOCC recommends.