For several years, I have been an outspoken critic of auto
allowances for City of Kenner employees and the City Council.
Mayor Yenni and the City Attorney had always stuck to their
guns that auto allowances were “reimbursements” although there were no mileage
logs kept by city employees to reimburse.
Mayor Yenni even tried to get the Attorney General to verify
that these payments were “reimbursements”.
The AG saw right through Yenni’s smokescreen.
In response to several questions from the Mayor, Attorney
General Buddy Caldwell said:
“A threshold issue of this opinion request is whether a car allowance
is “compensation” as understood by the Charter. Your opinion request takes the
position that this is a reimbursement rather than compensation. However,
nothing in your opinion request indicates that employees submit mileage or any
other kind of evidence of actual expenditures related to the use of personal
vehicles for which they are reimbursed. Rather, it appears employees are given
monthly flat amounts, regardless of much use of their personal vehicles
actually occurs on any given month. Also, as your letter indicates, the car
allowance is reported as taxable income on the employees W-2 form for IRS
purposes. These facts seem to contradict the assertion that the car allowance
is merely a reimbursement of the employee’s expenses.” Attorney General Opinion
12-0136.
Last year, Mayor Yenni tried again to include the auto
allowances, along with cell phone and data allowances, in the city’s annual
budget.
After more citizen complaints and District 2 Councilman Joe
Stagni telling the Mayor again that the auto and cell/data allowances were
illegal, Yenni relented and put an ordinance before the council to “legitimize”
the formerly illegal compensation.
In addition to “legitimizing” the illegal payments, Mayor
Yenni also expanded the program to include additional employees and additional
compensation, all while proclaiming to the media that he was saving Kenner over
$125,000 a year.
We’ve already pointed out several times Mayor Yenni’s issues
with math.
Mayor Yenni’s plan specified several Levels of
Responsibility and doled out payments accordingly.
Level 1, “The Highest Level of Responsibility”, receives a
$400 per month auto allowance, a $100 per month cell phone allowance, and a $50
per month data allowance. $550 per month or an additional $6,600 per year to
commute from their Kenner homes to City Hall and for using their own cellphones
on the job.
Level 1 is reserved for Yenni’s top and highest paid
Political Appointees including CAO Mike Quigley, Deputy CAO Natalie Newton,
Finance Director Duke McConnell and City Attorney Keith Conley.
Level 2, “The High Level of Responsibilty”, receives a $300
per month auto allowances, a $75 per month cell phone allowance, and a $50 per
month data allowance. $425 per month or an additional $5,100 per year to
commute from their Kenner homes to City Hall and for using their own cellphones
on the job.
Level 2 is reserved for every City Director, the Clerk of
Court, Deputy and Asst. City Attorneys, 1 of Mayor Yenni’s Executive
Assistants, and 3 other Assistants to the Mayor.
Level 3, “The Moderate Level of Responsibilty”, allows for a
$200 per month auto allowance, a $50 per month cell phone allowance and a $50
per month data allowance.
Level 3 includes all city Assistant Directors.
Not content with just spreading Kenner tax dollars to his
Political Appointees, Mayor Yenni also spread the wealth among several
Classified employees with auto, cell phone and data allowances of their own.
The ordinance approved by the council states, “Any
position listed in this ordinance that is provided with a city vehicle to
perform their assigned tasks will not be allowed a vehicle allowance.”
I guess I don’t understand how driving from your house to
City Hall to do your job constitutes an “assigned task”.
So, if fake auto allowances are ok for Yenni’s highly paid
Political Appointees, why the issue with a City Councilman, who by law is
allowed to receive a $500 per month auto allowance or a city vehicle?
The ordinance that the Council approved last year doesn’t
cover the Council. They have their own ordinance which allows them $500 per
month as a car allowance or the use of a city vehicle.
That ordinance has been on the books for over 5 years
through all of Mayor Yenni’s current term and even before that when he was the
CAO.
Yet, Mayor Yenni had no issue with it then.
And, why does Mayor Yenni think it's ok for his Political
Appointees, some of whom earn over $100,000 from Kenner taxpayers, to get auto,
cell phone and data allowances or cars and simply commute back and forth to
City Hall and make money on top of using their personal cell phones (who has a
cell phone plan that costs $150 per month for one line?), but not Kenner
Councilmen who earn less than $25,000 a year and actually use their vehicles to
attend the Mayor’s Ribbon Cuttings, Press Conferences, “Listening Sessions”, meetings
at City Hall and in other areas of the city; and report on street light outages,
sewerage issues, code enforcement issues and street flooding, among other
things?
So, why the issue with Councilman Carroll now?Political payback, pure and simple.
Does anyone really believe that Councilman Carroll’s vote
against Mayor Yenni’s plan to increase Kenner’s debt by $42 Million and his opposition to Yenni’s plan to sell streets and displace residents in Carroll’s
District, isn’t the cause of Mayor Yenni mysteriously realizing that Councilman
Carroll has a city vehicle and why Yenni is pushing this issue now in the media
and with the Attorney General?
If you believe that Yenni’s motives are pure and not purely
political, I have a former Mississippi River Toll Bridge that I can sell you.