Laf. council OKs $68.3M budget

The Lafourche Parish Council has approved for 2014 a $68.3 million operations and maintenance budget, one that includes pay raises for parish employees and re-establishes the legislative auditor and his clerk at their previous salary levels.

The council adopted the spending plan by an 8-1 vote, with Councilman Joe Fertitta in lone opposition.

Fertitta said he voted against the enactment because he believes some of the pay raises offered to employees were too high.

“Some of those individuals haven’t been with the parish for 3 months and they’re getting a raise,” he said. “I was just voicing my opinion.”

Fertitta’s colleagues seemed set on obstructing parish employees from receiving raises proposed by Parish President Charlotte Randolph, but the amendment to do so, sponsored by Councilman Jerry LaFont, was pulled at the last moment.

All civil service positions are budgeted for a 4-percent hike. Half would be given indiscriminately via cost-of-living increases and the other half awarded based on performance evaluations.

Some positions that fall outside of civil service are due for greater increases. The information technology manager’s salary is slated to rise by 24.8 percent, the community services director is in line for a 14.4-percent raise and the human resources director’s salary is set for a 9.2-percent hike. The civil service director, whose salary is set by the civil service board, is slated for a 32.4-percent raise.

The raises coincide with parish government’s complete absorption of $500,000 in health-care premium increases. Employee contribution rates for health insurance have remained steady for 11 consecutive years.

This year’s increase, attributed by the human resources director to the Affordable Care Act, heightened the parish’s insurance plan to $4.6 million, a 12.3 percent jump from 2013. The employer share will total $4.4 million.

Wages and benefits are projected to cost the parish $6.6 million next year, a 32.8 percent increase since 2011.

Randolph has bemoaned the parish’s inability to pay employees as much as the private sector, which lures many of the parish’s most-qualified workforce. None of Randolph’s current department heads were in place at the start of this term in January 2012.

Another deterrent to serving in her cabinet – which does grant Randolph more authority on salaries because it is outside of civil service – is the public criticism the council has subjected some in her administration to in the past through attempted firings.

“While we can’t pay people as much as we’d like to and as much as they deserve, we can at least take care of this quality-of-life issue for them,” Randolph said. “We’re looking at retention, and certainly the way to keep the talented people we have is to make sure they’re paid as much as they can with all the associated benefits.”

Yet many on the council felt the pay raises were too much.

LaFont spearheaded the measure to stall the increases pending the outcome of an ongoing parish government salary study, and the council appeared ready to back him after rejecting raises for internal auditor Tommy Lasseigne and his clerk Freddia Ruffin-Roberson as proposed by Council Chairman Lindel Toups.

But Randolph took issue with how the raise-prevention amendment was written, saying it only put the brakes on pay increases to employees in certain departments. Because the amendment was not all encompassing, it was “extremely discriminatory” and made the parish susceptible to a lawsuit, she said.

LaFont, on the other hand, said moving forward with the pay raises before the salary study is complete is premature. He went on to pull the amendment prior to a council vote.

“I don’t want to have to spend money on a lawsuit,” LaFont said.

The council passed 25 of 28 proposed budget amendments. Aside from the pay-raise prevention amendment, only failing were two separate would-be appropriations for speed humps in south Lafourche. The council imposed in 2011 a moratorium on the traffic-calming devices.

Roughly $2.2 million was added to the parish’s capital budget from various sources, bumping the projected spending over the next five years on such projects to $48.5 million.

“Everybody’s getting a piece of the pie,” said Councilman Daniel Lorraine, who sponsored six successful amendments totaling $390,000.

None of the appropriated money was earmarked for the parish’s detention center. Each councilman has agreed in the past that the current facility – overcrowded and deteriorated – at the very least needs a complete overhaul, but other than $400,000 appropriated for the location and appraisal of prospective sites during last year’s budget process, the parish has yet to put forth any funding.

LaFont, who suggested that Randolph divert money from salary increases toward a new jail, sponsored four amendments allocating $450,000. Of that amount $300,000 was split evenly between the Larose Civic Center and the Cut Off Youth Center, two nonprofit institutions in his district. The remaining $150,000 went toward the animal shelter and the spay/neuter program.

The council allocated $470,000 in unspecified recreation revenue to four projects: construction of a boat launch in Raceland, repairs to the Golden Meadow pool, construction of a waterpark at the Bayou Blue Recreation Facility and general funding to the Cut Off Youth Center.

Capital projects approved from other revenue sources include $100,000 in repairs to the Galliano annex building, capital improvements to the animal shelter building, playground equipment in Ward 6, five drainage projects in north Lafourche and funding for a spay and neuter program and both the Beachfront Development Commission and the Commission on Women.

The drainage projects will draw from $5.7 million that was not yet allocated stemming from the $24 million bonding of sales-tax revenue in north Lafourche. The approved projects totaled $1.1 million, leaving about $4.6 million from the bond sale.

Councilman Phillip Gouaux opposed most amendments, accusing his colleagues of overstepping their expertise and “micromanaging” the parish’s revenue. Councilman Aaron Caillouet opposed all amendments that allocated money for recreational purposes, saying those decisions should come from the parish’s recreation boards, to which the council appoints members.

The budget’s size was altered slightly, as the council adjusted projected recreation revenue – derived from a property tax – from an anticipated $914,208 to $1.2 million. Lorraine, who sponsored the amendment, cited projections from the tax assessor’s office.

Joe FertittaFILE PHOTO