On Tuesday, four city of Columbus council members voted to give themselves an $8,000 raise and mayor Keith Gaskin a $10,000 raise, effective immediately. (For those keeping score, that’s a 44 percent raise the councilmen gave themselves.)

It’s never a good look for governing bodies to raise their own pay, but there is simply no other mechanism to do it.

We continue to argue that any such raises for elected officials only become effective in the next term, which would be applicable to the incoming council/board of aldermen/selectmen, board of supervisors or legislature. It helps improve the optics of the situation.

That is why we applaud mayor Keith Gaskin and council members Jacqueline DiCicco and Rusty Greene for their response to the 4-2 vote on the pay raise. All three said they will not accept the raise because they voted against it or, in the mayor’s case, would have voted against the raise if there had been a 3-3 requiring the mayor to break the tie. Gaskin said he would have voted against the raise, so he didn’t feel it right to accept a raise he opposed. DiCicco and Greene said much the same.

“I can’t vote no and then accept money,” Greene said. “That would make me a hypocrite. I told another council member that I didn’t begrudge it if they wanted it.”

The four council members who voted for the pay raises — Ethel Stewart, Joseph Mickens, Pierre Beard and Stephen Jones — were well within their rights to raise their pay, although we believe a 44 percent raise is grossly excessive, especially when city employees are underpaid and taxes are being raised.

We also find it unfortunate that the same four council members insisted on making their own raises immediate while pay raises for city employees in the budget won’t go into effect until Oct. 1 and the start of the new fiscal year.

What’s the rush? Again, not a good look.

Tuesday’s action creates an unusual pay structure for the council. Four members will make $26,200 per year while two others will make $18,200. At some point, that will have to be reconciled, but for now, the disparity reflects a stand on principle that is refreshing to see.

An alternate solution to this, one that would eliminate any bookkeeping issues that might emerge, is for Gaskin, DiCicco and Greene to accept the raises and donate them — in the name of the city — to a city-supported charity or program.

The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.