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Finance committee approves up to $6,500 in back pay to parish president after compensation review
Summary
After debate over methodology and whether prior materials included benefits, the finance committee approved an amendment and final motion to allocate up to $6,500 from fund balance to cover back pay for the parish president for 2023–2025 following an independent compensation analysis.
The finance committee voted to amend the 2025 general fund budget to provide up to $6,500 to cover back pay to the parish president for increases occurring in 2023–2025. The funding will come from fund balance, and committee members said the adjustment reflects a compensation analysis that reviewed base-salary averages for comparable elected offices over 2020–2024.
Committee members asked for clarification on the process and the data used. Staff and the finance director said the parish engaged a compensation analyst and an actuary to conduct an independent review (the administration said the actuary normally handles OPEB work and the analyst will manage ongoing recalculations for about three years). Staff said the payroll calculation uses base salary data provided by clerks of the courts and that, going forward, the parish will run the process quarterly to avoid future back-pay liabilities.
Several council members raised procedural concerns, saying they recalled the April packet had different breakdowns that included benefits and allowances and questioned whether earlier packets improperly combined base salary with benefits when computing averages. Administration staff responded that the April presentation had been tabled for legal review, the process was found to be broken and has been corrected, and the current back-pay allocation is intended to settle the discrepancy.
The committee voted on an amendment to include the $6,500 figure and, after technical issues with electronic roll-call voting, the motion passed and the final resolution carried.
What happens next: Staff will circulate the April packet materials to council members (as requested in the meeting) and the finance office committed to supply the compensation spreadsheet and to consider process improvements or charter changes as longer-term fixes.
