In addition to approving a tax rate and budget for Fiscal Year 2017-2018 there was also some discussion about department head salaries.

The special meeting of the Port Arthur City Council was on Thursday afternoon at city hall.

The first measure was to adopt a budget for the ensuing Fiscal Year beginning Oct. 1, 2017 and ending Sept. 30, 2018. The deadline for tax levy was Sept. 29.

This budget will raise more total property taxes than last year’s budget by $321,100 or 1.71 percent, and of that amount, $156,946 is tax revenue to be raised from new property added to the tax roll this year.

Willie “Bae” Lewis Jr., District 5 councilman asked Assistant City Manager Kandace Tappen what was the total budget. Her answer was $167,734,015. Last year’s was $121 million.

Lewis attributed the differences to servicing debt and providing 3 percent raises to employees. Tappen added including capital funds played a role.

Harold Doucet Sr., District 4 councilman, told City Manager Brian McDougal the assistant city manager position (Tappen) and finance director position need to be resolved.

Charlotte Moses, At-Large Position 7 councilwoman, said she favored a motion range in step for the finance director. The proposed salary last year was $117,591.

This is the original range and step where it was before the offer of $135,000 was made to a candidate who remained nameless.

“Please don’t punish me and the staff because you think I made a mistake on this position,” McDougal said. “We’ve already offered a salary of $135,000 to this gentleman and he’s qualified.

To do this means I’ll have to hire another recruiter. That’s $25,000 I’ll have to spend to get a recruitment. I’ve got to find someone in the 117 range and I can’t do it. It’s difficult. I’m not a lawyer, but since we already made an offer to a candidate he will probably challenge it. It’s not a very wise decision.”

Doucet said the city council never approved an offer.

“You did the hiring. We have policies and procedures. If anyone decided to challenge, they’re not going to challenge the council because we’re following the policies and procedures,” Doucet said. “You say there will be litigation, but the city has not done nothing wrong.”

McDougal said by Doucet’s implication he is saying the city manager erred.

“I don’t believe I did anything wrong. By the ordinance I think I followed the rules to a T,” he said.

Doucet said the city manager deals with personnel and the council follows the policies and procedures.

“We’re ready to stand behind our decision,” he said. “You make the decision, not the hiring firm. Before we attempt to spend another penny to fill the finance director position, this council should have a long discussion because we have already spent too much.”

Lewis said if the candidate tries to challenge the city council he’d “better produce a document to challenge us.”

He added the candidate would “not a very bright person” if he told his employer he was leaving without a command document from the Port Arthur City Council.

The discussion then switched to the assistant city manager position.

Doucet said the position should not be refunded, but only for the current contract in the budget.

“It should be under a one-year contract,” he said.

McDougal said the position was for a two-year contract. Tappen has served one year. The position ends FY 2017-2018.

Doucet introduced a motion to not fund the position for a second year. The motion failed because of a 3-3 tied vote. Those voting yes were Doucet, Lewis, and Raymond Scott Jr., District 1 councilman. Those voting no were Moses, Cal Jones, District 2 councilman and Mayor Derrick Freeman.

The council also approved a tax rate of $.792000 per $100 valuation. This rate exceeds the lower of the effective or rollback tax rate.

The preceding year’s tax rate was also the same. The effective tax rate was $.789170 per $100 and the rollback tax rate is $.830909 per $100.

The effective tax rate is the total rate needed to raise the same amount of property tax revenue for the city from the same properties in both the 2017 tax year and the 2018 tax year.

The rollback tax rate is the highest tax rate the city may adopt before voters are entitle to petition for an election to limit the rate that may be approved to the rollback rate.