INDIANAPOLIS -- Tempers flared Thursday night after Washington Township board members voted themselves a 60 percent pay raise despite an angry crowd vehemently opposed to the increases.

The situation escalated when board member Joe Simpson shouted at a 6News crew trying to cover the meeting, 6News' Norman Cox reported.

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Analysis: 6News' Norman Cox Recounts Confrontation
Uncut Video: Washington Township President Ray Baker In Heated Discussion With Cox

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Simpson accosted 6News photographer Eldon Wheeler before the meeting, telling him a microphone couldn't be placed on the table at which he sat.

After the meeting, Simpson told Wheeler, "You might as well have just called me a {N-word}."

Two other board members stepped in to restrain Simpson when he moved menacingly toward Wheeler, Cox reported.

6News attempted to contact Simpson Friday for comment.

Members of the Democratic majority pushed the pay raise through by a 4-3 vote without allowing public comment. They then refused to answer questions from the public or media.

Board president Ray Baker, one of two members who hung up on Cox on Wednesday as he prepared a story on the issue, castigated the reporter Thursday night for calling him at work.

"When I said I wouldn't go on camera with you, the conversation was over," Baker said, adding that he had no comment on the vote.

It's common practice for reporters to call public office holders at their day jobs. Baker works at the Washington Township assessor's office.

The vote boosts salaries from $2,250 to $3,600. The board took a pay cut after the township's fire department merged with the Indianapolis Fire Department last year, a move that meant board members no longer needed to oversee the department or meet as frequently.

But board members in favor of the raise said that the salary increase is based on cost-of-living expenses.

Republican Jack Werner voted against the proposal, telling Cox earlier this week that he believed approving a raise would only fan the fire at the Statehouse to eliminate townships completely.

Comments from TheIndyChannel.com users indicated plenty of outrage about the pay raise.

"Let's see, 75 percent of their work was taken from them so they voted themselves a 60 percent cost of living raise?" said one commenter. "Where can I apply to work there?"

Audience members at Thursday night's meeting, many of whom were there to protest the pay raise, were not allowed to speak during the meeting. Those who collected signatures against the raise outside the meeting said they would take their fight to the Department of Local Government Finance.