Baltimore's top officials plan today to review automatic pay raises for themselves - which they vow to donate to the city - at the same meeting Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake is scheduled to unveil a grim preliminary budget with deep cuts to fire, police and parks.

Rawlings-Blake, Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young and Comptroller Joan Pratt said they would decline the extra money and direct that it be returned to the city's general fund. Council Vice President Edward Reisinger and several other council members pledged to do the same.

"Because of the economic and financial difficulties that we're facing in the city of Baltimore, I think it's only right that we give it back," said Young.

But the city is already paying its top three officials more than it did in late 2008, when a flap over quiet raises prompted then- Mayor Sheila Dixon, Rawlings-Blake, who was council president, and Pratt to promise to donate the pay increases to charity.

Rawlings-Blake and Young both saw their pay go up last month when they ascended to their new offices, at salaries that included raises that their predecessors had given away.

Three years ago, a commission to determine compensation for elected officials recommended annual raises of 2.5 percent, tied to pay increases for other city employees. The council agreed.

The raises are mandated by law and appear on the city's spending board agenda today for informational purposes only, said City Solicitor George Nilson. The board is not able to vote to halt the raises, he said.

City leaders drew criticism in December 2008 after pay raises appeared on the spending board agenda accompanied only by job codes, not position titles. Dixon initially said she intended to hold onto the raise, but later promised to donate it to charity. Pratt and Rawlings-Blake gave their raises to nonprofits.

But the elected officials' base salary still rose at that time, as it will again today. So as they decline the new raise, their pay now includes the last increase.

The increases were clearly identified in the agenda this year as part of an effort to increase transparency, said Ryan O'Doherty, a spokesman for Rawlings-Blake.

The raises were triggered by a 2 percent cost-of-living increase for some city union employees last summer.

The mayor's raise, which would increase her salary by $3,700 to $155,500, will be deducted from her biweekly pay checks and be returned to the general fund, he said. Before the last round of pay increases, the mayor received about $148,000.

Several city leaders, including Rawlings-Blake, Young and State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy, relinquish part of their pay by participating in voluntary furlough days.

City officials were unable to explain why the pay increases appear on the agenda for today's meeting, at which the mayor will outline the city's bleak financial state.

The raises should have appeared on the agenda in December, Pratt said.

It appears they "fell between the cracks," during the mayoral transition, Nilson said.

The budget would ground the police helicopter, dissolve the marine unit, permanently mothball three fire companies and shutter several recreation centers, according to council members who have been briefed on it.

Funding for some programs could be restored if the council approves a package of fees and taxes proposed by the mayor.