Two aldermen who are also members of the negotiating team selected to represent Evanston City Council in talks with Northwestern voted Tuesday night against approving the university’s annual request to close Sheridan Road for Friday’s Homecoming parade.

Both Ald. Steven Bernstein (4th) and Ald. Ann Rainey (8th) said they wanted to let NU administrators, students and alumni know that the city will not take “no” for an answer. University President Henry Bienen said after a Rotary Club luncheon Thursday that NU will make no additional financial contribution to the city’s budget.

City Council voted 7-2 to approve NU’s request in spite of Bernstein and Rainey’s staunch protests. Several of the aldermen who voted to approve the request said they didn’t want the council to punish students just because aldermen disagree with the actions of administrators.

“I think this issue is totally unrelated to any negotiations with the university,” said Ald. Arthur Newman (1st), the third member of the negotiation team. “Homecoming is a big part of the students’ college experience. As unreasonable as I think (Bienen) is being, I don’t want to be as unreasonable as him.”

For more than 100 years, Evanston residents and NU administrators have been tangled in a debate over whether the university should do more to ensure the city’s financial security. Because of its 1851 state charter, NU is exempt from paying property taxes that the city uses to fund services such as police and fire protection, road maintenance, and parks and recreation.

The town-gown debate came to a head in the March primary election, when more than 80 percent of voting Evanston residents supported City Council’s advisory referendum proposing negotiations with NU for payment of its “fair share” of the cost of municipal services.

City Council in July formed the negotiation team, but talks hit a snag recently when the city and university disagreed over whether to hold public or private meetings.

Bernstein said he is fed up with the university’s actions and urged the council to take a stand.

“We’ve got to get their attention,” Bernstein said. “It’s time for the city to take its own well-being into hand. We can’t go on like this. We need help.”

He said denying the Sheridan Road request offered the council an opportunity to reach out to NU alumni who might not be aware of the situation and who might then be willing to take action.

“What better time than a Homecoming parade to tell alumni that the city is not being done properly by the alma mater they are coming back to celebrate?” Bernstein said.

Rainey said NU’s request to close the city’s streets was unnecessary.

“Northwestern has acres and acres of land where they can march around, but instead they have to close our city streets,” Rainey said.

Bernstein agreed with Rainey and said the parade could still go on, even if the council wouldn’t allow NU to close down Sheridan Road.

“If you have to move this parade to Deering Meadow, it’ll be a different parade, but it’ll still be a parade,” Bernstein said.

She said the request is just another way for the university to take advantage of the city while giving nothing in return. She said she was infuriated by Bienen’s position.

“Now the university is at the public trough again, asking for a favor,” she said. “But we’re only a partner with Northwestern when we can do something for Northwestern.”

Ald. Gene Feldman (9th) said he isn’t opposed to sending NU a message, but he doesn’t want to do it haphazardly. The council should establish a strategy for responding to all university requests rather than attacking each one individually, he said.

But Bernstein said the whole battle comes down to productively meeting with university officials to talk about a contribution.

“I don’t want them to be a partner,” Bernstein said. “I want them to be a citizen. You live here. You work here. Help us.”

Tuesday night wasn’t the first time the council has threatened to block use of Sheridan Road for the Homecoming parade. A year ago, several aldermen said they would not approve NU’s request in the future unless administrators addressed alleged street code violations by University Police during New Student Week.

The council also voted Tuesday night to give the mayor, city clerk, aldermen, township supervisor and township assessor their first pay raise in eight years.

The vote increased the mayor’s salary from $12,000 to $17,000; the aldermen’s from $6,500 to $10,000; the city clerk’s from $36,000 to $45,000; the township supervisors from $9,400 to $11,400; and the township assessor’s from $3,339 to $6,000.

Ald. Edmund Moran (6th) and Ald. Stephen Engelman (7th) voted against the pay raises for the mayor, aldermen, city clerk and township assessor. Moran said he opposed the aldermanic pay raises because they represented more than a 50 percent increase from the old salaries.

But Newman said aldermanic salaries still won’t amount to much, given the number of hours the council members spend working on city business and the sacrifices they must make in their personal and professional lives.

“It goes way beyond public service,” Newman said. “I think there’s aldermen on this council who do a lot more than their counterparts in Chicago who make $50,000 to $70,000.”