Councilman explains charter amendment
Early voting runs through Dec. 1, except for Sunday. Bring a photo ID to the polls.
In addition to runoffs resulting from the Nov. 6 primary, St. Mary voters will decide the fate of a proposed charter amendment setting the salaries of parish council members at $800 per month. The exception would be members elected at large, who would get a salary of $1,200 per month.
If passed, a sitting council can only vote for a salary change that would apply to the next term, and no change of salary can be adopted during the last year of a council’s term.
Councilman Dale Rogers introduced the ordinance with a second from Councilman Gabriel Beadle that was—after several previous attempts—approved by the council. In an interview Tuesday, Rogers said, “The parish council is the lowest paid elected officials in the parish. This compensation has been in place for 35 years; there is no additional pay for mileage, per diem or insurance.”
Rogers said council members represent more people in square miles than most city council members; attend two meetings a month; oversee more boards; and are responsible for at least three times the budget of other governing bodies.
He said the language of the proposition is the same as all five municipal governments in the parish, as well as 90 percent of state governing authorities. “No council member can raise their (own) pay,” he said. “If the council passes an ordinance to raise pay, which takes a majority of six votes, it will be for the next term of elected officials that the people vote for. No council member is guaranteed re-election.”
Rogers said there is talk of “a loophole” in the proposed amendment to the charter. “The language is clear about us setting our pay by ordinance instead of going out to the people to vote. They tried it three times, and it failed every single time.”
He said the proposal would move the parish forward and “be progressive.”
“People seem to believe that every four years the council will raise their pay,” he said, noting that is not the case.
