St. Tammany Parish Council overrides president’s veto on Safe Haven maintenance and employee COLA
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Summary
The St. Tammany Parish Council voted unanimously (with two members absent) to override Parish President Cooper’s veto on two 2026 budget line items, restoring about $1.6 million the administration had cut from Safe Haven campus maintenance and a proposed cost-of-living adjustment for employees.
The St. Tammany Parish Council voted unanimously, with two members absent, to override Parish President Cooper’s veto of two 2026 budget line items that would have cut maintenance funding for the Safe Haven campus and rejected a proposed cost-of-living adjustment for parish employees.
The council’s action came after public comment and extended discussion about the future of Safe Haven, grant constraints and how to balance payroll pressures. Miss Tanner urged colleagues to restore the funds, saying, “It’s $1,600,000,” and noting that the council would revisit COLA timing when health-insurance costs are clearer.
Parish President Cooper urged the council to sustain his veto, arguing the funds under veto supported maintenance and ongoing capital grants at Safe Haven and that the campus remains an “incredible resource to our community.” He said some tenants — including Florida Parishes Human Service Authority — are expected to vacate in March, and that parish-maintained funding primarily covers utilities, grounds and building upkeep rather than direct service delivery.
Administration staff told the council that Safe Haven has received roughly $18,403,744 in federal and state grants for capital work and that many of those grants carry terms that restrict sale or repurposing of the property until grant periods expire. Staff said some state capital-outlay funding follows bond terms up to 30 years and that accepting further grant dollars can extend restrictions tied to repayment if the property is sold before grant terms end.
Several councilmembers said the cuts were a difficult choice but argued the parish must balance employee pay and core services. Mister Bender, noting recent COLAs granted to lower-paid staff in previous years, said, “We have to bite the bullet this year,” in support of overriding the veto.
Public commenter Mister Uhack urged a more targeted approach to protect lower-paid employees, suggesting senior managers consider pay reductions to preserve COLAs for vulnerable staff. The council did not adopt that proposal but discussed follow-up work with administration to refine compensation approaches.
The council’s vote reinstates the two line items as a package, as presented on the agenda; legal staff told members the agenda was formatted to treat both line-item vetoes as a single vote unless the council suspended the rules to consider each separately. The meeting record shows the override motion passed unanimously with two members absent.
The council did not set an immediate implementation plan in the meeting beyond the vote; members asked administration for follow-up details on grant expiration dates, the rental income picture after tenant departures and options for identifying alternative revenue streams for Safe Haven by the 2027 budget cycle.
