Previously approved 7 percent salary increases for the county's top appointed officials will be pushed back for one year under a proposal by the Carvalho administration as a mitigation against a slowing economy and the county's tight financial prospects.

The freeze, which delays raises for two dozen county workers — the mayor, his department heads and their top deputies — from the scheduled date of Dec. 1, 2009, to the new date of Dec. 1, 2010, was received unanimously last week by the Kaua'i County Council. It was previously approved by the salary commission.

The only snag may have been that some council members believe the freeze doesn't go far enough.

In a March letter to the salary commission, Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. asked that the county defer the increases for two years, until Dec. 1, 2011. In the letter, Carvalho said the freeze of the proposed future raise for him and department heads should continue "until such time that economic conditions improve and the county's financial forecast indicate signs of continued recovery and growth."

Council Vice Chairman Jay Furfaro and others worried last week that the county's economic climate next year could be even worse than this year, especially with the looming possibility that the state Legislature could yank back the counties' shares of the Transient Accommodation Tax, worth in the range of $11 million or $12 million to Kaua'i.