Pay increases for the mayor’s office and members of the City Council are set to take effect in January 2021, with Mayor Allan Fung saying he has chosen to let two related ordinance amendments become law without his signature.

Fung – who will leave office before the increases take effect – had initially voiced strong opposition to the mayoral pay raise proposal.

But in a statement Tuesday, he said amendments that lowered the amount of the salary increase and removed an annual 2.5 percent cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, from the equation made it more palatable. The amended proposal was approved on a 5-4 vote of the council Sept. 23.

“Originally, the mayoral salary ordinance included ridiculous COLAs and an extreme 56 percent raise. While I understand some council members supported this, I could not,” Fung said. “As the ordinance – which cannot and does not apply to me – was amended to remove those COLAs, and bring the salary in line with similarly sized Warwick, I have decided to let it go through without my signature.”

The mayor’s office currently receives a salary of $80,675, while council members receive $4,000 annually and the council president receives $5,000. Under the two ordinance amendments approved by the City Council in September, the mayor’s salary will rise to $105,000 – less than the $125,000 that was initially proposed – while members of the council will receive $6,000 and the council president will get $8,000.

Council President Michael Farina, Citywide Councilman Ken Hopkins, Ward 2 Councilman Paul McAuley, Ward 4 Councilman Ed Brady and Ward 6 Councilman Michael Favicchio supported the mayoral pay increase, while Citywide Councilman Steve Stycos, Ward 1 Councilwoman Lammis Vargas, Ward 3 Councilman John Donegan and Ward 5 Councilman Chris Paplauskas were opposed.

The 6-3 vote in favor of the council pay increase was largely the same, aside from Stycos siding with the majority.

The pay increase proposals generated a great deal of attention and debate over the last several weeks.

Supporters noted that the mayor’s salary has not been increased since 2002 and not discussed since 1999, while the council’s pay has been stagnant since the 1980s. Both the mayoral and council increases were framed as a means of bringing Cranston into line with Warwick and other communities while making local offices attractive to the best possible candidates from all segments of the community.

Critics, meanwhile, argued that the funding for the increases could better be used elsewhere. They also pointed to opposition from constituents and the fact that the city’s median household income is in the $60,000 – well below the mayor’s current salary.

Donegan and Stycos have since introduced a proposed ordinance amendment that would establish a minimum wage of $12.75 an hour for municipal employees.