By the time you read this, the results of the Boston City Council’s vote on Mayor Tom Menino’s " rent stabilization " plan will be in. (The Phoenix went to press before the council met on Wednesday.) But regardless of the final vote, the political machinations that took place beforehand offer a view of the mayor’s relationship with the council.

The bill, a home-rule petition that requires state approval, would allow tenants to appeal substantial rent increases to a city rent board, which would have the power to overturn or reduce the increases. Since some 60 percent of Boston residents do not own their homes, many political observers had expected the mayor’s proposal to be a slam-dunk, at least in the City Council.

But in the days leading up to the vote, council insiders said the mayor could count on only three supporters: Councilor-At-Large Maura Hennigan, Councilor Charles Yancey of Mattapan, and Councilor Chuck Turner of Roxbury. On Tuesday, the day before the vote, the council’s Committee on Government Operations voted to recommend that the mayor’s rent-stabilization proposal " ought not to pass. "

" This is not the vehicle to get us where we need to be, " explained Councilor Maureen Feeney of Dorchester, the committee chair. " I don’t think stabilizing rents at the highest level in our history is going to create any more affordable housing ... and there are a substantial number of councilors who believe it will actually hurt the people who most need our help. "

Feeney, along with Councilors Jimmy Kelly of South Boston, John Tobin of West Roxbury, and Councilor-At-Large Mickey Roache, all signed the committee’s report, although Roache reportedly remained undecided on the floor vote. Also sitting on the fence and awaiting a possible compromise, according to sources, were Councilors Robert Consalvo of Hyde Park, Michael Ross of Beacon Hill, Paul Scapicchio of the North End, and Councilor-At-Large Stephen Murphy. Council president Michael Flaherty, who serves at large, said he met with the mayor face to face on Monday and told him, " I can’t be with you this time around. "

Calls were running three to one against the plan, according to Joe O’Keefe, an aide to Flaherty, with the majority coming from home owners. Many callers were mobilized to action by mailings from the Small Property Owners Association, the same organization that successfully put rent de-control on the ballot in 1994.

Nonetheless, Boston Tenants Association coordinator Kathy Brown remained confident that the mayor would persuade the council. " We are not sure it [the council vote] will happen, " she said. " But the mayor has been talking to them [councilors] ... and we believe that sooner or later the council will be forced to deal with the majority of Boston residents, who are tenants. "

Passions on both sides of the issue were inflamed last week when a council hearing on the proposal drew scores of supporters and opponents, who jammed the fifth floor of Boston City Hall. Boston police were called to maintain order in the council chamber and the area immediately outside.

At the zenith of his power since trouncing former councilor Peggy Davis-Mullen last year to win a third four-year term, Menino enjoys approval ratings of close to 80 percent, according to surveys across the city. And since helping to broker a deal last January that made Flaherty the council president, the mayor has exercised unprecedented influence on the council as well. In addition to making personal calls to councilors, Menino sent his trusted aides Junior Lombardi, Pat Canavan, and Amy Dwyer to lobby councilors, Flaherty said.

" Naturally we are disappointed in the [Government Operations] committee vote, " offered Canavan. " But we will not go quietly ... we are working to get the votes. "

In the sort of irony that defines Boston politics, all three supporters of Menino’s plan — Hennigan, Yancey, and Turner — have traditionally been at odds with the mayor. The undecided councilors, on the other hand, are closer to him. Consalvo is a neighbor and protégé of Menino’s. His father and brother-in-law also happen to work for the City of Boston. Ross was once Menino’s webmaster, before winning election to the council in 1999 — in part, on the basis of his vow to support rent control. Murphy, also from Hyde Park, just came off a failed bid for state treasurer, for which he received strong financial and organizational support from the mayor. And Scapicchio is susceptible to pressure from Lombardi, a key Menino political lieutenant in East Boston, which is a large part of the District One councilor’s Italian-American base.

Notwithstanding the expected opposition to the plan, no one was laying odds against the mayor. " It is still too fluid.... I can’t call this one, " offered Flaherty. " If it does not pass tomorrow, I will not be surprised; if it does pass tomorrow, I will not be surprised. "

Regardless of its passage, however, the lobbying and posturing that went along with it will ultimately amount to nothing more than a political exercise. House Speaker Tom Finneran is an opponent of rent control and will likely bury the measure if it’s sent to the legislature.

As Flaherty put it: " But if it does [pass], you can be almost certain of one thing. It will be DOA on Beacon Hill. "