PORTAGE | It won't save the city much, but the City Council offered a symbolic gesture Tuesday night to try to ease the financial constraints on the municipality.

The council unanimously approved amending an ordinance setting salaries for elected officials, wiping out any pay raises for themselves for the coming year.

"I don't see a real need for the council to get a raise," Councilman Ted Uzelac said after the ordinance was given a first read. He cited the city's "financial constraints" as the reason council members should forgo pay increases in 2009.

All other council members agreed and set an Oct. 7 adoption date for the ordinance.

The savings will be about $240 per council member for the year, said council member Liz Modesto, adding she was willing to give up the extra money.

At seven members, that's a total savings of about $1,680 to the city's 2009 budget. City Council members will earn about $12,000 again next year.

Salary raises for the mayor and clerk-treasurer positions weren't cut. They will be about 2 percent, the same average raise employees will receive in 2009. The council adopted the ordinance setting city employee salaries Tuesday night.

The council also had a public hearing on the proposed 2009 budget. No one spoke for or against the proposed $27.7 million spending package. The proposed budget is about 2 percent higher than the advertised 2008 budget of $27.1 million. Most of the increase came in the city's general fund, which pays for day-to-day operations, salaries and benefits. The general fund increased by a little more than $500,000. The 2008 budget has yet to be approved by the state. The budget will have a final reading and adoption at the council's Oct. 7 meeting.