The BRCOA is getting ready to start spending their new tax dollars...on pay raises

quote:

---

The East Baton Rouge Council on Aging is mulling whether to give pay raises to its employees before the agency adds 40 positions over the next four years as it expands services and grows into a budget more than twice the size of the one it currently operates on.

---

quote:

---

The Council on Aging won a contentious dedicated property tax election last year that will increase its budget from $3.2 million to $7.8 million annually.

---

quote:

---

James Gilmore, a former assistant chief administrative officer for Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome, made a lengthy presentation Friday to the COA's board that broke down employee salaries and positions the agency now hopes to add.

---

quote:

---

Most others agreed, and asked Clark-Amar and Gilmore to return for their board meeting in December with more information about how much a 5 percent raise would cost and comparable salary ranges they might consider for Council on Aging employees.

---

quote:

---

Gilmore also walked through the salaries of the highest-paid Council on Aging executives, including Clark-Amar and her leadership staff.

Clark-Amar's annual salary is $101,238, but the presentation showed the national midrange salary for someone in her position is $180,198.

---

quote:

---

Clark-Amar also hopes to hire a chief administrative officer to help run the Council on Aging, and said her chief operations officer is overextended. The CAO would be another executive level position at a high pay level.

---

quote:

---

Board members also pondered whether it was worth outsourcing some of the work the Council on Aging does. Clark-Amar proposed beefing up the two-person accounting staff with three additional employees.

---