Published: Wednesday, December 22, 2010, 2:00 AM

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Meir Rinde/The Times

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TRENTON — Anger over raises given to top officials in Mayor Tony Mack’s administration mounted yesterday as Mack released more details about the pay hikes.

The issue has stoked the discontent of residents who have watched Trenton lay off scores of employees and plan a new tax increase.

But the revelation that several people have received pay hikes also appears to be based at least partly on inaccurate information released by Mack’s administration.

Some workers actually did not receive raises, and the announcement Monday didn’t explain that several of those listed as receiving raises had actually been promoted when Mack took office July 1, and they have not received raises since then.

Still, City Council has scheduled a special meeting for next Tuesday to review the increases.

Council president George Muschal said he called for the meeting after he and Councilwoman Phyllis Holly-Ward were besieged with phone calls and visits from upset residents. News of the raises comes as the city prepares to lay off 61 firefighters next month.

“I could never do this when you’re laying off all these people. It’s totally unethical,” Muschal said. “We’re trying to save everybody’s job here! What are we doing? We want to check he’s doing this properly, which we don’t believe he is,” Muschal said of Mack. “We’re trying to control what they get. If we don’t like it, we’ll cut them down.”

The Mack administration said Monday that 11 staffers had received raises recently because they were being asked to do the work of two or three people. But data the city provided yesterday show that only two people received large raises recently.

Mack aide Anthony Roberts, who was hired at $65,000 in July, got a $15,000 raise last month, bringing his salary to $80,000. Spokeswoman Lauren Ira was hired at $83,000 in July and sometime later received a $12,000 raise, boosting her pay to $95,000.

The controversy began with press reports last week that Ira’s pay increase may have violated a city agreement with the state Department of Community Affairs, which requires prior DCA approval of any raises. The administration responded by saying no raises had been given since the agreement went into effect Dec. 10, and it listed what it said were all the staffers who have received pay hikes since June.

Mack and Ira argued that giving raises is less expensive than hiring more people, and they said that even with the raises, Mack’s aides are paid less than comparable personnel in the prior administration.

According to data Ira provided yesterday, two of those on the first list the administration provided — clerk-typist Joanne Daniels and secretary Sonya Wilkins — have not received any raises since June. And acting fire director Leonard Carmichael actually saw his pay cut $7,027 as part of the city’s layoff plan, bringing his salary down to $121,461.

Others got higher pay only in conjunction with sometimes temporary promotions.

For example, acting law director Nakia White said yesterday that she did see her pay boosted by $8,746 to $105,175 when she was promoted, but she said it will drop to its old level when she returns to her former position as assistant city attorney.

Similarly, four other employees described as receiving raises were actually promoted July 1: acting public works director Ralph Burzachiello, whose pay went up $23,919, to $117,270; acting business administrator Elaine Adams, up $15,644 to $116,747; acting inspections director Cleveland Thompson, up $6,430 to $115,167; and acting housing director Henrietta Owusu, up $4,651 to $107,278.

“I make the same money the public works director did in 2005,” Burzachiello said yesterday. He called the complaints about the pay hikes “kid games.”

Adams received another smaller pay raise in November, increasing her salary $2,145 to its current level of $118,892.

“Those acting cabinet members were adjusted because they are still holding their previous jobs — and their existing responsibilities,” Ira said yesterday.

In addition to Adams, Ira and Roberts, one other recent raise went to intern Paul Harris, whose hourly pay rate increased from $15 to $20. Muschal said Harris is paid through a federal grant, and the council was trying to understand the funding arrangement.

Alex Zdan contributed to this report. Contact Meir Rinde at mrinde@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5717.