Pineville Considers Pay Raises for Mayor and City Council
Quote of the Day: “He’s (Mayor Fields) working for WPA (a Depression-era federal agency) wages,” Joe Wolf said.
Pineville Considers Pay Raises for Mayor and City Council
Quote of the Day: “He’s (Mayor Fields) working for WPA (a Depression-era federal agency) wages,” Joe Wolf said.
CenLamar 
WPA wages???? You’ve got to be kidding!
Why Helena honey we must be kin. Did we go to seperate schools together?
the city councilmen who make $700.00 a month want to give the mayor what amounts to an extra $1,000.00 a month. the real story at least in our view is this years budget is $9.8 million yet they decided to spend an extra 1.3 million due to overwhelming sales tax revenues. why not save that 1.3 million for a rainy day and start fresh next year with its already established 11.4 millon budget?
Quit making sense, we saw that.
You’re right on all counts and some fiscal responsibility could help Pineville continue to grow an prosper. Locking that money away could do plenty of good in the long run.
You’re right Geoff,Locking it away would put em one(two)steps ahead of Alexandria.
The bigger story is the dishonesty of this Mayor and the out right charade that he is using AGAIN. 4 years ago just weeks after being elected Fields had Wolf do the same exact thing. Bring in Wolf (who incidentally is appointed to several commmittes of the City by the same Mayor) in have him suggest a raise for the Mayor and counsil.( Incidentally Mayor Baden used the same tactic) Mayor and Counsil act surprised and “aw shucks we dont know if we deserve no raise, but if yall good people of Pineville think we do well thats all up to yall. Then they get Wolf to selectively get the figures of other Citys which are LARGER IN POPULATION and then say that our people are not paid enough and suggest a raise…Council appears stage left all surprised and humble and of course vote themselves the raise along with Fields .Fields then , reading from the script says.”but my hard worken helpers need a raise too…so lets all hold hands and give Dupree and the rest of these already overpaid “assistants” more of our money. Hell some of them LIKE DUPREE live outside of our City limits so they dont even have to pay the City taxes. Why not be supportive of it .
THIS IS THE REAL STORY. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE SO CALLED PUBLIC SERVANTS WERE JUST REELECTED TO THESE OFFICES. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE SO CALLED PUBLIC SERVANTS NEW EXACTLY WHAT THE JOB PAID. FOR THEM TO NOW GIVE THEMSELVES A RAISE AFTER THEY HAVE BEEN ELECTED IS WRONG. JUST PLAIN AND SIMPLE I DONT CARE IF THEY ARE ALL ABRAHAM LINCOLN CLONES. ITS WRONG AND JUST BECAUSE THEY HAD NO PUNISHMENT FOR DOING IT 4 YEARS AGON DOES NOT MAKE IT OK NOW. TO MAKE IT WORSE THIS SILLY LITTLE GAME THAT FIELDS IS PLAYING ACTING LIKE ALL OF THIS COMES AS A SURPRISE MAKES IT EVEN MORE CLEAR THAT THEY KNOW ITS WRONG BUT ARE STILL GOING TO TRY TO DO IT ANYWAY. SHAME ON YOU ALL.
Both houses of Congress tend to get raises every year. At four years per raise Pineville is looking pretty conservative.
Pineville can prosper and outdo Alexandria if it really wanted to. Granted, it’d take a couple decades but they have the ability. Right now they have one of the best schools academically in Louisiana (my alma mater Bolton has slipped) with PHS. Industry can continue to prosper with the right placement. They’ve had some great family run restaraunts pop up over the years. The population continues to grow in the middle class area. Despite whatever problems it has, LC still offers one of the better educations in the area.
The only people who seem to like (love) the Pinville City Govt. are the people of Pineville. What else could possibly matter.
LC has forfeited any academic credibility that it ever had and appears determined to reduce it’s reputation even further. You don’t do LC any favors by pretending.
l.c.’s nursing program has always been par excellence. published reports have said that the nursing dept has been unchanged in the recent uproar there. is this not true?
Its like a Damn Wizard of OZ over in Pineville. You got Scarecrow Bro Fields who is nice but dont have no brain and has to rely on the manipulation of the Tin man Dupree who is full of shit and has no heart for anything but self glorification , and we got a lion for a City Counsil cause they got no courage to stand up the BS coming out of the Mayors office. One thing they do have is the same as in the story…They are ON their way across Winkie Coutry bound for EMERALD CITY to get themselves another raise. Anyone who critizes them is made out to be the wicked witch and attacked by the winged monkeys determined to destroy them. All in the name of honesty and Christian love. And behind the curtain? Well hell its the Wizard Faircloth himself after being annointed as the Citys Fair legal leader gets into his hot air balloon and flys away to work for gambling casinos a natural association that the good people of Winkie country want to be associated with . Sad thing is that unlike the story and unlike Dorthy you never wake up and you have to live 4 more years in the realization that you aint in Kansas anymore. These people are not good for your city. AND if you let them STEAL money from the taxpayers and give themselves a raise AFTER they have been reelected and AFTER they knew what the job paid then you deserve to live in a false fairy tail that is Pineville
Nathan Martin. You selectively like to pop in and out on this blog and give us your philosophical perspective on various topics. How about giving us your opinion on elected officials running for an office with full knowledge of the pay and then upon being elected or reelected voting to give themselves a pay increase. What is your perspective on this issue? Please tell us.
Any way to get the News media to ask if Joe Wolf handles any financial planning or stock broker work for any of the elected officials or their families? It would be good to know if he does.
Read the article in the newspaper today where Rich Dupree announces that the City is generously going to give the Citizens a “GIFT” by spending taxpayers money on fireworks.
No wonder they have no hesitancy to give themselves raises. They think its their money!
I bet they think they are giving us a gift when they pick up our trash or have police patrol our roads.
I KNOW they think that putting up that ugly sign at the foot of the bridge is a gift.
ITs not your money Mr Dupree.
This article really does reveal a lot about the perspective of our elected officials regarding the Citizens that they are sworn to serve. Not very encouraging. And this Dupree guy is the best they have in expressing the feelings of our Mayor?
He IS the Mayor.
hahaha, I’m so glad I don’t live anywhere near pineville
Its an easy city to find. Just drive across the bridge and we are the first GOLDEN Pinecone sign on the right…surrounded by Pinetrees..NO..Magnolia trees…go figure….maybe there is a move to change it to Magnoliaville…Its a gift ..enjoy
I thought we all decided that it is a big gold Pineapple, NOT a pinecone.
Naaa..its a Pinecone. Its a gift to us from our Emperor.
Wouldn’t Fields look magnificant with one of those horse hair flyswishing things standing next to the pinecoaple?
ala eddie murphy in trading places?
Yup and with one of those caps
I’ve been out of town leading worship at a youth conference in Arkansas for over a week so I have a lot of catching up to do both in real life and in reading Lamar’s blog. Let me see if I can address some of the points made here.
“We saw that”, you commented about the additional 1.3 million in tax revenues and suggested it be put up for a rainy day (my paraphrase.) This additional money is from the 1/2-cent tax that is designated: 70% to employee pay and benefits and 30% to capital improvements. We gave a raise to the employees after the tax was passed, about a month or two before we started collecting it. Our amended 2005-2006 fiscal budget reflects that. So the 70% is going exactly as we promised the citizens. The 30% that goes to capital improvements is currently not being spent as we continue planning for a bond issue to do significant infrastructure improvements. (Elevated water tank, new water wells, new fire station, etc.) I hope we can turn that 30% (roughly 400,000/year) into some big projects that will help meet Pineville’s needs well into the future. Hopefully that answers that point. (But I’ll be glad to provide further info or clarification if needed.)
You also spoke of “the city councilmen who make $700.00 a month want to give the mayor what amounts to an extra $1,000.00 a month.” Let me address this. The article and references to it are the first time I’ve heard of any discussion of pay raises for the council and mayor. It has not been discussed among the council members or with the mayor, as far as I know. This was a surprise to me. Remember, the article does not reflect action taken by the council, simply comment made at the finance committee meeting by a councilman and a committee member. So it’s far from a done deal.
I was not on the council when the last pay raise was voted on (November, 2002) and I appreciate geoff’s comment that one pay raise in 4 years is “pretty conservative”. But as I expressed to the mayor this morning, I am not in favor of a pay raise for the council at this time. My personal opinion is that salary matters should be handled later in the 4 year term, closer to reelection time, preferably timed to take effect with the new term.
As for the mayor’s salary, I do think it should be reviewed on a regular basis. As I recall, the recommendation from the committee back in 2002 was for the mayor to make around $70,000 which Mayor Fields turned down. Now four years later, according to the article he is eligible for a salary increase to $61,000. I think Pineville has come a long ways in the past 4 years. The Council position is a part-time position and the pay is reflective of that. The Mayor’s position is a full-time position and his pay should reflect the responsibility of overseeing 250+ employees and a multi-million dollar budget. I would be in favor of surveying the salaries of mayors from similarly-sized cities to get an accurate view of what the salary should be. But I am opposed to a salary increase for the council at this time.
I don’t know if I’ve answered all the questions but hopefully I’ve addressed the major points. If not, let me know. Now back to catching up from being away for a week.
Sincerely,
Nathan
ah thanks for explaining it councilman. to us the 1.3 million sounded a lot like an unexpected windfall and the council was going ahead and spending it. also we arent opposed to the mayor or the council for that matter receiving a raise. it must be a pretty awesome responsibility and a lot of pressure to be a mayor of a city (especially in this day and age) even one the size of pineville. we like to play devils advocate a lot and so we arent always opposed to everything. 😉
we dont have a problem with pineville we like pineville just dont annex anymore property down 28e or 107. 😛
Hi “We”,
Thanks for the kind words. As for annexing, my opinion is that we should fill in the holes caused by voluntary annexation, especially in my district (5). Right now it is a mish-mash and can be confusing not only to Public Works but also to our Fire and Police departments. I’d like to see properties annexed that are completely surrounded by City of Pineville corporate limits. They already benefit from the improvements we make on roads, infrastructure, etc. They would also be able to benefit from our superior Fire Department, excellent sanitation service, effective policing – and in addition to all of that, they would get to vote in Pineville’s elections!!!
However, as for extending our services out Highways 28 and 107, my preference is that be delayed until we can fill in the current gaps. I’m not opposed to extended city services to support new developments but think we should let those new developments stay unincorporated until we fill in the gaps closer in. (I’m not opposed to annexing retail establishments for the sales tax purposes … especially if we can provide the services that attract new businesses to our area.) Currently the city limits extend to Nine Oaks Lane and Sunnyhill Drive on Hwy 28 and to Stilley Road on Hwy 107. I’d like to see us work from there back in to fill in the gaps. Of course, that’s just one man’s opinion.
Sincerely,
Nathan
Nathan,
I wholeheartedly agree with your idea of “filling in the gaps” by developing and/or annexing areas that are contigous to the current city limits. Allowing substandard development to occur further and further out puts a strain on exisitng infrastructure and continues to destroy the rural areas outside of the city. If folks want to develop in the hinterlands and still receive city services, let the developers pay the true cost of extending the services to them instead of subsidizing their developments as we do now.
We may also want to consider the concept of “extra-territorial jurisdiction”. This allows municipalities to impose their Land Development Codes within a certain distance outside of the city boundaries. This ensures that areas to be annexed in the future already meet higher design and construction standards and it takes away the incentives for developing outside the city limits. I am sure this would fly like a basket of rocks in Louisiana…ahhhh maybe someday we will catch up with the rest of the modern world.
Has their been different standards for requiring builders to come into the City to get our water, depending on who the developer is? It seems very questionable that the city would give utility benefits to some developments and then not require them to come into the city thsu costing the city hundereds of thousands in taxes. Seems that some get special priviledges and consideration from the Counsel and company.
ive seen it done twice on some neighborhood developments involving people associated with Mayor or counsel. Its pretty well known by the men who do that kind of development.
think nathan wants to pick and choose what he answers.
The idea of “extra-territorial jurisdiction” sounds good but I don’t think the legislature will back it and it would take legislation on the state level for that to happen. We do work with developors on the fringes of the city to encourage them to build to standards that we would accept in case we do in the future annex their development. We don’t have any legal authority to mandate standards but we use every carrot we can.
Another poster questioned if there are different standards for developers that want city services but don’t want to be annexed. I’m not aware of any special favors granted but we have negotiated different standards depending on what we feel is in the best interest of the city. For example, the city prefers that streets be built of concrete. Developers would prefer to use asphalt because it’s historically been cheaper than concrete. In one development we negotiated an agreement that would allow the developer to put in asphalt paving (over 12 inches of soil cement, doubling the requirement for cement base) with underground drainage and concrete curbs and gutters. We required that these streets meet our minimum width (26′ on arterials, 24′ on laterals, not the 18′ required by the parish). In exchange for accepting an asphalt street (that even on a superior base would save the developer money) the developer agree to put in concrete sidewalks, which have never been required or mandated in Pineville, but are much needed. So it was a win/win … we got a street that was engineered to higher standards than our concrete streets and we got sidewalks while the developer saved some money on concrete. (Of course, with the price of oil, asphalt paving is now not much cheaper than concrete paving.)
When developers seek to subdivide outside the city, we don’t have much say so in what they do. In fact, we are required by federal law to provide them with water service so we can’t even hold that over their heads. We do not have to provide sewer service though, so that is a carrot we can use to entice them to build to our standards. (But we can’t provide sewer everyone … it’s just not logistically possible. Water lines are pressurized and can go uphill, sewer lines generally are gravity driven and it’s very expensive to pump that stuff over hills.)
Here’s an example: Woodlake subdivision, just beyond Village Green, was developed with concrete streets, city water and city sewerage. However, we do not plan to annex this subdivision because it’s too far out. However, the development was built to our standards and if sometime in the future we have expanded that far we can annex that subdivision without any problems. Because the developer built the entire infrastructure (to the city’s standards) NO tax dollars were spent on that project. Some might say we lose the property taxes, which is true, but that is partly made up by the fact that outside city limits water and sewerage customers pay more than double what people living inside the city limits pay. So we actually MAKE money on them, which is a good thing.
I hope I’ve answered all the questions. Thanks for the dialogue.
Sincerely,
Nathan
Tell us about the BMX track
Bolton has an extremely good athletics dept. They have clinched the playoffs in District 3-AAA! Go Bears!!
Wow, Go Bears!!! That’s great.
Is that football?
I 2nd the motion. Go Bears!
I love the Bears! Go Bears go!