The Columbus City Council will meet again tonight at Trotter Convention Center as it continues to work on its FY 2023 budget, which must be approved by Sept. 15,

At this stage, most of the budget has been set, although tonight’s meeting — and any subsequent meetings before the Tuesday deadline – will allow the council to make adjustments.

The most recent version of the budget includes a 1-mill ad valorem tax increase, money that would be used to provide a 4-percent across the board raise for city employees (at an estimated cost of $400,000) and an increase in pay for 90 employees to bring their pay rate up to $12.50 per hour (at cost of $300,000).

We have no real objection to either of these moves. Tax increases are rarely cause for celebration, but the reality is the labor market is much more competitive right now.

But there is one proposed adjustment, as presented at Tuesday’s budget meeting, that we vigorously question.

In addition to the aforementioned raises, the latest budget plan calls for an increase in the mayor’s pay from $83,000 to $106,000, a healthy 27.7 percent bump in pay. The city’s six council members’ pay would increase from $18,200 to $25,000, a 37.3-percent increase.

The city of Starkville has already voted to raise the pay of the mayor by 25.1 percent to $93,832 and raise aldermen pay by 6.6 percent to $21,328. Starkville employees received raises varying from 1.5 percent to 23 percent.

These raises are in place regardless of whether the aldermen vote for a 1-mill tax increase or relies on its projected fund balance to cover those costs.

We have long held the position that elected officials should not raise pay for themselves until the end of the current term, which in this case is three years away.

But our objections to these raises for elected officials go beyond that in this case.

The idea of raising elected officials’ pay while simultaneously raising taxes, something the latest budget proposes to do, is an insult to the taxpayers, who have no say in either matter.

At the same time, the optics of voting to raise your own pay 25-plus percent while giving everyone else 4 percent is insulting.

It’s important to remember that, unlike the raises proposed by non-elected city employees, these raises are not market driven. It’s not like the mayors of Columbus and Starkville are going to up and become mayor somewhere where the pay is better. It’s the same for the city council members.

If there is an argument to be made for raising the pay for the city’s elected officials — and there may well be — let’s hear it. But let’s not hear it in a year when these same officials raise taxes.

For the sake of keeping faith with the citizens of Columbus, we urge the council to eliminate these raises at tonight’s meeting.

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