Lafayette Mayor-President Joel Robideaux has vetoed four items in the 2018-19 budget.

Monday was the deadline for Robideaux to veto any items in the budget approved by the City-Parish Council. The four items he vetoed are:

A $1 salary for the Lafayette Utilities System director

A $1 salary for the newly-created Communication System Department director (formerly LUS fiber)

A 2 percent raise for Lafayette Consolidated Government employees

The addition of 10 firefighters to the city of Lafayette fire department

The council has the option of overriding the vetoes if six of nine council members agree.

RELATED: LUS director's salary cut to $1

$1 salaries vetoed based on legal opinion regarding charter

Councilman Bruce Conque was behind the Sept. 6 decision to set the LUS director's salary and the new communications division director's salary at $1 for the fiscal year that begins Nov. 1.

It's meant to stop Robideaux from actively seeking to fill those positions until more is known about the future of LUS. The council, Conque said at the time, can amend the budget at any time to provide money for the directors' salaries when the situation changes.

Bernhard Capital Partners, an equity firm, is finalizing a proposal to manage all or parts of LUS. The proposal is due any day.

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City-Parish Attorney Paul Escott wrote in a memo supporting Robideaux's vetoes the Home Rule Charter that established LCG gives the mayor-president the authority to set the salaries of department directors.

"This provision is clear and explicit," Escott wrote.

The charter contains no provision granting the council the power to approve department directors' salaries, he wrote, although the council may review the salaries "for reasonableness."

Attorney says LUS bond covenants also prohibit $1 director salary

Outstanding LUS bonds and the covenants or promises the city made to future bond holders when issuing those bonds provide additional legal questions about budgeting only $1 for the LUS director's salary, Escott wrote.

The $1 salary, he said, "is tantamount to a complete 'de-funding' of that position, such that no person can be appointed to the position."

That potentially threatens the bond covenants, Escott added.

The bond covenants provide for the appointment of a chief operating officer, he said, and for operating LUS in a business-like manner.

Escott said the charter also provides that the LUS director is appointed by the mayor-president, subject to approval by the Lafayette Public Utilities Authority in accordance with current and future bond covenants.

Failing to have an LUS director for a long time may be interpreted as not running the system in a business-like manner, he wrote. That could potentially cause a default on outstanding bonds.

Robideaux: 'Lafayette can't afford' pay raises

The budget proposed by Robideaux in July did not contain a pay raise for LCG employees in 2018-19. But Councilman Kenneth Boudreaux proposed a 2 percent pay raise that the council approved by a 5-4 vote.

Robideaux told The Daily Advertiser Monday the financial condition of the city and parish make pay raises unwise.

RELATED: LCG employees may get 2 percent pay hike

For two years in a row Lafayette led the nation in job losses, he said. It was reported just last week that the Lafayette region lost 500 jobs in July 2018 compared to July 2017.

City sales taxes for the current fiscal year are down $548,023 and parish sales taxes are down $201,493 year-to-date, Robideaux said in his veto message. As a result, city and parish reserves have dropped in recent years, he said. The parish reserve is down to $105,377.

"It's just not the time to say we can afford this raise," Robideaux said. "Lafayette can't afford it, especially when you consider the parish has to pay some of it."

Additional firefighters not needed at this time to maintain fire rating

Councilman Jay Castille, a former city firefighter, was behind a budget amendment adding 10 firefighters to the city department.

The important thing is that the city of Lafayette maintain it's Class 2 fire rating and the city fire department provide the level of services residents expect, Robideaux said.

The city added 42 firefighters in the past five years. Retirements and other reductions meant a net increase of 22 firefighters, he said. The city also opened a new fire station in 2016.

The city will soon undergo a fire rating review that considers performance over the past three years.

"The fire department is currently operating in a safe and efficient manner which satisfies the current Class 2 fire rating and there is not an immediate need for the additional 10 firefighters," Robideaux wrote in his veto message.