To the Citizens of District 7

To the Citizens of District 7,

At the Agenda review meeting on Wednesday 8/27/14; an ordinance for introduction was brought up concerning adjusting the pay for the council members.

The issue before the council will be to consider an ordinance that would ONLY take affect for the next 4 year term, (for those members who get elected in 2016 – 2020 term), we are directly prohibited from adjusting our own salary while in office – which is more than fair. The item is considering adjusting the pay for council members to an “AVERAGE” of what our workers will get for the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) which is based on the Consumer price index. Carlo and I both have some concerns about the verbiage, which the finance committee is clearing up; I’ve asked for our finance dept. to run the numbers based on last year’s COLA, so the public can easily understand the amount.

Currently, each council member receives $2,300 per month. We receive no car allowance, no mileage allowance (unless we travel OUTSIDE of St. Tammany Parish to attend a meeting(s), we do get a cell phone stipend based on our minutes and data usage plan. We have NO Parish office, all council members work from our homes. We are provided a laptop or I Pad for our council business, these devices are solely owned by St. Tammany Parish and surrendered once our terms are over complete. I as well as many other Council Members DO NOT HAVE PARISH CREDIT CARDS – I refused to take one and I have never billed for a meal while I’ve been elected.

The proposal before the council is to adjust the pay BASED on the average of all the parish employees, generally a 2-3% raise will probably be seen annually IF this passes. This would be equal to $69.00 per month before taxes currently.

$2,300 x 12 mos. = $27,600 x 0.03% = $828.00 per year divided by 12 mos. $69.00 per month before taxes

Jake Groby