No question, Mayor Dan Sullivan faces a challenge. He doesn't want to raise property taxes. He's said he wasn't elected to raise taxes. But even to maintain the 2010 budget level, the city will require a 3 percent tax increase and, according to the mayor's projections, $18 million in cuts. So why did the mayor give 162 executive and administrative employees -- essentially the people he appoints -- 3 percent raises? As the old saying goes, timing is everything, and the mayor's timing here couldn't be worse.

The raises won't break the bank this year. They're worth $129,500 in 2010, and Sullivan says they're within budget because departments are spending less than budgeted.

But those same raises will cost $456,260 in 2011 -- when the city is looking to save $18 million.

Pay for those positions was cut by 5 percent when Sullivan took office in July 2009. Some execs took a hit; others came to their positions at the new pay levels. The mayor argues he's simply restoring part of a cut to his team that hasn't had a raise since he took office.

Here's the rub. At the same time executives regain ground, the mayor is asking workers to give up ground. He's proposing a variety of ways to cut costs in wages because labor costs are the only place he can readily get the cuts he needs to balance the budget he wants. What doesn't set well is that some of his proposals could have workers giving up more than executives.

For example, cutting the city workweek and corresponding pay to 37.5 hours is a 6 percent cut. Even if you factor in the raises received by most union workers in January 2010, that's still a 3 percent cut, basically dialing wages back to 2009 levels, when many workers made concessions to cover the shortfall caused by the Wall Street crash.

In that case, workers would be asked to take a bigger cut than executives, who right now are looking at a 2 percent net cut from 2009 levels.

To be fair, nothing is writ in stone. The mayor and unions are still meeting.

Department heads, their deputies and others who serve at the pleasure of the mayor should lead by example. That means they should bear at least the same proportional burden the mayor asks of city workers.

All city employees punch the clock on the taxpayers' dime, from mayor to mechanic, executive to entry-level clerk. If the goal is to hold the line on taxes and make city government leaner, all city employees will need to ante up. The mayor should make sure sacrifice is fair and across the board.