Both candidates for Lafayette city-parish president said Thursday they will not take an 8.3 percent pay raise budgeted for 2015-16.

Dee Stanley and Joel Robideaux told The Daily Advertiser on Thursday they do not intend to take the $9,724 pay raise for city-parish president.

In response to The Daily Advertiser’s story published online Wednesday about the budgeted pay raise, both Robideaux, a state legislator, and Stanley, Durel’s chief administrative officer, said Thursday they will not accept the money.

“Not only am I not accepting the 8.3 percent increase, I will take what amounts to a $6,100 pay reduction over my current salary as CAO,” Stanley said. “It’s about service. It’s not about salary.”

The CAO’s salary for 2015-16, which includes a 2 percent raise, is $125,491. A 2 percent raise in the city-parish president’s salary will be $119,384.

The 2015-16 budget, however, allows the new city-parish president to take a $9,724 pay hike, an 8.3 percent increase over the 2014-15 salary.

Stanley said for the duration of his term if elected city-parish president he will accept whatever raise employees are given. That’s usually 2-3 percent per year.

“If they get no pay increase, I intend to take no pay increase,” he said.

Robideaux’s campaign issued a written statement Thursday morning saying, “I will not accept the 8.3 percent pay raise slipped into the budget and disclosed publicly only after final passage. Our parish has many critical needs and this is clearly not one of them.”

The Robideaux news release took a shot at Durel and his administration, noting that this is not the first time he “slipped large pay raises into the budget at the last minute. These kinds of actions erode trust in government … They also have a cost significantly greater than just the additional funds that can’t be used for other priorities. The long-term retirement and benefit costs can easily run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, especially for someone who has been employed by (Lafayette Consolidated Government) for a long time.”

Stanley fired back, saying, “I find it disingenuous and political that someone who has worked for the Louisiana Legislature where, in the waning days of this session much of what was done was done behind closed doors, is going to be critical about something that was included in the budget,” which went through multiple meetings and public hearings.

He said it was an “absolute falsehood” to say that the Durel administration sneaked or slipped the pay raise into the budget.Original story:

Last week, Lafayette City-Parish President Joey Durel refused to sign the 2015-16 budget because the council added nearly $1 million in expenses to it.

At the same time, Durel quietly slipped into the budget a $9,724 pay raise for the next Lafayette city-parish president, without discussion before the council.

The pay raise clearly isn’t for Durel. His term expires Jan. 4. He can’t run again because of term limits.

But Durel’s replacement, either state Rep. Joel Robideaux or Durel’s chief administrator officer, Dee Stanley, would benefit from the 8.3 percent bump in pay. They’re the only two competing for the seat in the Oct. 24 election.

The 2015-16 budget, which Durel’s administration prepared and presented to the council, shows the city-parish president’s salary at $126,768, up from the current salary of $117,044.

The pay raise makes the incoming president’s salary higher than his chief administrative officer’s salary.

Chief Financial Officer Lorrie Toups told The Daily Advertiser on Wednesday that, under the Home Rule Charter, salaries for the city-parish president and councilmen can be increased up to 10 percent every four-year term.

Since the new city-parish president will take office two months into the fiscal year, the raise was budgeted for only 10 months, at 8.3 percent, she said.

“The council does this for themselves. It’s the maximum allowed in the charter for any single term,” Durel wrote in an e-mail response to The Advertiser Wednesday. “I felt it appropriate for a new C-P President to have the same option.”

Currently, Durel earns $5,987 less than Stanley, his chief administrative officer for the past 12 years. The new city-parish president — either Stanley or Robideaux — will earn $3,737 more than his chief administrative officer.

“When I decided to run for this office, it was not based on the salary,” Stanley said Wednesday. “I anticipated that it would be the current salary” and was ready to take a pay cut.

Robideaux announced in a news release Thursday morning that he will not accept the pay raise. He took a political jab at Durel and his administration, writing that this is not the first time the Durel administration slipped large pay raises into the budget at the last minute. Such actions erode trust in government, the news release states.

The long-term retirement and benefit costs of such a pay raise can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars for someone who has been employed by Lafayette Consolidated Government a long time, the release noted.

The 2015-16 budget was approved this week without Durel’s signature. In a memo to the council dated Sept. 14, Durel said he would not sign the budget ordinances approved by the council Sept. 3 because of nearly $1 million in spending the councilmen added to the budget.

Durel called the additions “election year politics” that are “highly irresponsible,” but admitted he did not have the votes to prevent the council from overriding a presidential veto. So instead of a veto, he let the budget ordinances pass without his signature.

All nine city-parish council seats are up for election Oct. 24. Three councilmen — Kenneth Boudreaux, Kevin Naquin and William Theriot — were re-elected without opposition. Qualifying was last week.