As if the Caddo Parish Commission wasn’t getting enough unfavorable publicity in January, in February more came down the pike that reinforces the notion that service on the body seems more in self-interest than in the public interest.
The Louisiana Legislative Auditor
issued a letter
that questioned the legality of parish commissioners – at
least 15 since Art.
III, Sec. 2-52 of the parish’s ordinances went into effect in March, 2000 –
being allowed to participate in the Caddo Parish Employees Retirement System.
The Louisiana Constitution was amended in 1996 to prevent elected after
beginning of 1997 any part-time official, mentioning by name kinds of bodies
that serve as governing authorities, from participating in a retirement plan
run by that subdivision. Every present sitting member of the Commission was elected
after that date (with Ken
Epperson and John Escude
having breaks in service even as they had served prior to that date).
Ridiculously, the parish wasted
taxpayer dollars by filing for a declaratory state court judgment about the
ordinance (which was amended in 2005) even though Art. X, Sec. 29.1 of
the Constitution seems very clear about this. Only absurdly concluding that as
the literal wording excludes members of a “police jury” or “parish council,” somehow
a “parish commission” would be exempt, extraordinarily contrary to what is meant
by and the spirit of the law (as argued in two
separate
attorney general opinions).
Far better would have been simply
to acknowledge reality and stop for their next paycheck the up to 9.5 percent
tax-free deduction that would qualify up to a 16.75 percent taxpayer subsidy,
and have reimbursed past and present members only the amount that had been
taken from salary, plus investment earnings, minus taxes. It is unknown whether
any of the few past members have received their deposits plus the taxpayer
portion and/or annuitized these amounts, which could prove legally impossible
for repayment and thereby illegitimately have cost taxpayers.
The presence of this program for
them suggests another reason why, some years later, commissioners voted to tie their
salaries to increases granted all parish employees, giving them higher salaries
than most other part-time officials in the state such as state. The extraconstitutional
retirement option served as a multiplier on base salary that also crept higher –
and would cost taxpayers even more – as time went on.
When deliberating these ordinances,
it’s hard to believe that the Commission, of whom only Escude, Epperson, and David Cox presently on it now
were also in 2000 or 2005, and/or its staff were so negligently ignorant of the
law that it passed these, or else it disregarded the Constitution entirely and arrogantly
tried to ignore the rule of law. This includes members in 2000 now in the state
Legislature, state Reps. Jim Morris and Patrick Williams.
It doesn’t speak well of parish staff and all current members, with the
exception of Lindora Baker
who opted out of the plan, that, even as commissioners took an oath to serve
the state that they and staff seemed to know so little about their own state
constitution that they apparently did not question the plan’s availability
until local citizens brought the discrepancy to their attention.
This revelation only adds to the
woes of a Commission, of whom at this point all non-term-limited members are
expected to run for reelection this fall, that helped itself to this illegal
benefit and the equivalent of a full-time salary, that tried to get rid of, then
extend term limits (beaten back by voters), that tried to continue taxing the
parish beyond it needs (also defeated by the electorate), and that has had a
penchant for making venture capital deals that so far don’t seem to be working
out that threaten to cost taxpayers. The last thing its members need is to
create the impression that they lack integrity or didn’t know something basic
about their positions.
Simply, any member running for
reelection (and, for integrity’s sake, any other member as well) voluntarily and
immediately should withdraw from the program and take out only their deposits
plus earnings, or else they send the strongest signal possible that they are
unfit to serve, now and in the future. As a whole, they must drop a worthless suit. There can be no excuse now for not
knowing.
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