§1233. Compensation

A.(1) Every parish governing authority in Louisiana organized under the police jury system of government shall, by ordinance approved by a majority of the elected members of the governing authority in open public meeting, after public hearing which has been advertised in the official journal of the parish on at least two separate occasions within a period of fifteen days preceding the open meeting, provide for the method and amount of compensation and mileage to and from the meeting place to be paid the member of the police jury of that parish.

(2)(a) Members of the police juries are authorized to receive compensation not to exceed fifty dollars per day and the same mileage allowance as provided to state elected officials going to and from the courthouses in their respective parishes for every day they are actually employed in the service of the parish and for travel outside of the parish on parish business. Mileage shall be charged for each day of attendance at each session of the police jury to be paid out of funds of the several parishes on the warrant of the president, provided however, that if a juror has use of a parish owned vehicle for the conduct of official business, the mileage compensation shall not be paid.

(b)(i) Police jurors shall not be paid for more than one hundred forty-four days in any one year.

(ii) No police juror shall be compensated for more than twelve meetings per month, or, in lieu of such per diem, the police jury may elect, by a vote of a majority of the elected members, to be paid on a salary basis, in which event the maximum salary allowable shall be one thousand six hundred dollars per month for each member of the police jury. A police jury may provide for an increase in the salary of the police juror serving as president of the police jury in an amount not to exceed four hundred dollars per month more than the salary established for members of the police jury. Such additional salary shall only be payable while a police juror is holding the position of president of the police jury.

(iii) In the event that the police jury elects to go on a salary basis, a police juror who does not attend regular, special, or committee meetings of the police jury may be required to forfeit the sum of twenty-five dollars of said salary for each nonattendance without reasonable excuse.

(iv) The police jury, by majority vote in open session, may determine on an individual basis whether a member had a reasonable excuse for nonattendance at any regular, special or committee meeting of the police jury.

(3) In addition to any other compensation or expense allowance provided by law, each parish governing authority which does not operate under a home rule charter may pay a monthly, itemized expense allowance, not to exceed two hundred dollars per month, to the members of the governing authority as payment for actual expenses incurred in the performance of their duties. Such expense allowance shall be provided upon approval of a majority of the members of the governing authority after public hearing.

B. In lieu of the provisions of Subsection A of this Section, each member of the governing authority of East Baton Rouge Parish may be empowered to receive a travel allowance for in-parish travel which includes payment for a combination of travel and car allowance of a maximum of eight hundred dollars per month for each member. Such allowance shall be provided upon approval of a majority of the members of the local governing body after public hearing.

Amended by Acts 1950, No. 78, §1; Acts 1952, No. 287, §1; Acts 1956, No. 187, §1; Acts 1965, No. 95, §1; Acts 1966, No. 92, §1; Acts 1966, No. 360, §1; Acts 1968, No. 417, §1; Acts 1970, No. 560, §1; Acts 1972, No. 344, §1; Acts 1973, No. 140, §1; Acts 1974, No. 474, §1; Acts 1976, No. 625, §1; Acts 1977, No. 82, §1; Acts 1978, No. 375, §1; Acts 1980, No. 526, §1. Acts 1984, No. 896, §1; Acts 1985, No. 236, §1, eff. July 6, 1985; Acts 1993, No. 423, §1; Acts 1995, No. 964, §1; Acts 1997, No. 1159, §1, eff. July 14, 1997; Acts 2008, No. 356, §1.