City council votes to rescind raises given to council staffers without full authorization of council

SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) - On Tuesday, Aug. 15, Shreveport City Council Chairman James Green announced pay increases for a number of council staffers that he authorized were being rescinded.

On Wednesday, members of the city council met during a special meeting to officially rescind those salary increases. There was also a motion proposed to launch an investigation into how the raises were approved in the first place; that motion failed with a 4-3 vote. Councilman Grayson Boucher says the way the raises were granted was incorrect and has caused quite a bit of frustration.

“It’s not that I don’t think our employees need a raise. I’m with Councilwoman Bowman, I think all employees need a raise. I watched the guys pick my trash up yesterday in almost 100 degree heat with stinky, nasty trash and they’re making thirty something thousand a year and we got a secretary in the clerk office sitting in a council office behind a reception desk making almost sixty thousand a year. That just doesn’t seem fair to me,” Boucher said.

Councilman Boucher says no one council member can act autonomously without consulting with the other council members. Furthermore, in regards to Councilman Green rescinding the raises Tuesday, Boucher says he did not have the authority to do so when he didn’t even have the authority to give the raises in the first place.

Councilmembers Green, Dr. Alan Jackson, and Tabatha Taylor were not in attendance. Members of the community also expressed their frustrations involving the pay increases. Boucher says he would like to speak with the city attorney’s office to see how they can get this money back.

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