Holden to Reject Bulk of Council Pay Hike--for Now : Proposition H: He says he might take the extra money, approved by voters Tuesday, if L.A.’s budget condition improves next year.

Los Angeles City Councilman Nate Holden on Thursday became the first council member to reject the full $24,935-a-year pay raise approved by voters in Tuesday’s election as part of Proposition H, the ethics reform measure.

Holden, a supporter of the measure, said he could not take the pay hike as long as the city has fiscal problems.

Despite Holden’s move, Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, Proposition H’s most outspoken foe, told reporters he was accepting the pay increase. Council members Ernani Bernardi and Ruth Galanter, other opponents of the measure, also plan to take the windfall.

“The people voted for it,” Yaroslavsky said. “I campaigned against it. I fought against it. And I said all along I’d take the money if it passed.”

Yaroslavsky, Bernardi and Galanter signed a ballot argument that said: “Charter Amendment H is a pay raise for politicians masquerading as ethics reform. It’s a fraud. The mayor and City Council want a staggering 40% pay raise, but they haven’t earned it.”

Asked how he could take a raise he had damned so vehemently, Yaroslavsky said his real problem was with the other costs of Proposition H. The pay hike for the 18 elected city officials--15 council members, the mayor, city attorney and city controller--will cost about $425,000 alone.

But the public financing and ethics reform elements of Proposition H, Yaroslavsky stressed, will bring the total price tag of implementing the measure to $4 million. None of this money has been set aside in the city budget.

Holden opened the Pandora’s Box on the pay raise issue by holding a news conference to say he could not, in “good conscience,” take the pay hike at a time when City Hall is trimming city services due to a budget crunch. He said he would take a 5% increase for himself, but return the rest to the city’s general fund. Council members’ received a 40.7% pay raise.

Proposition H got 56.7% of the vote Tuesday. It was approved in all parts of the city, except the northwest San Fernando Valley. The voters in Councilman Hal Bernson’s 12th District defeated the measure by 35 votes out of more than 32,000 cast. Bernson and many other elected officials could not be reached Thursday about whether they would follow Holden.

Holden said he might reconsider his decision around the beginning of next year if the city’s budget situation improves. Holden said he felt he and his council colleagues deserved the pay raise.

In addition to the raises, Proposition H also establishes an ethics commission, provides for public financing of political campaigns and bans outside employment by the city’s elected officials.

The measure’s passage boosts the pay for council members from $61,222 to $86,157 and ties their salaries to those of Municipal Court judges. The salaries of the mayor, city attorney and city controller are set, respectively, at 30%, 20% and 10% more than those paid the judges.

Proposition H boosted Mayor Tom Bradley’s salary from $102,537 to $112,004, a 9.2% increase.

On Wednesday, Bradley appeared to be backing away from his pledge, made earlier this year, to donate his pay hike to charity. He clarified his position Thursday, saying he will take the $9,467 annual increase, but donate a large share of it.

“I stand by my statement I made at the beginning of this whole process. Any pay raise I would turn over to charity,” Bradley said.

Bradley’s press secretary, Bill Chandler, said the mayor would take a 5% pay raise on July 1--and donate the remainder.

Many council members could not be reached for comment Thursday on whether they would accept the raise. Councilman Joel Wachs, who had sought even higher pay raises for the elected officials, was in Europe on a trip that combines personal and city business. Council President John Ferraro, the author of the plan to link the pay raises to the ethics package, was in New York City.

Times staff writer Jane Fritsch contributed to this story.