Opinion ID: 1671268
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: salaries for ancillary personnel

Text: La. R.S. 33:1555 addresses responsibilities for payment of compensation to deputy or assistant coroners, as well as other employees of the coroner's office, and provides in pertinent part: A. Each coroner may appoint one or more deputy or assistant coroners to perform his duties.... They shall possess the same qualifications as the coroner and be paid by the coroner appointing them or by arrangement with the parish governing authority if the coroner is on a salary basis. ... B. The coroner may appoint any necessary secretaries, stenographers, clerks, technicians, investigators, official photographers, or other helpers. The salaries of these employees shall be paid by the coroner out of his fees or by arrangement with the parish governing authority if the coroner is on a salary basis (emphasis added). This section makes a distinction between salaried coroners and coroners who collect the statutory fees listed in § 1556(A), i.e., salary plus fees and fees-only coroners. The parish governing authority must pay salaries for all ancillary personnel if its coroner is on a salary basis. If not, these salaries shall be paid by the coroner. Carriere certified salaries for a chief deputy coroner, a secretary, an investigator, a photographer, and a licensed practical nurse as necessary or unavoidable expenses of the coroner's office. La. R.S. 33:1556(F) states: F. Nothing herein shall be construed as prohibiting the payment by the parish or municipality of all necessary or unavoidable expenses certified by the coroner. Subsection (F) is a general provision that extends to any and all types of expenses that may be certified as necessary or unavoidable by the coroner. We do not find, however, that it mandates that parishes or municipalities do anything. The words [n]othing herein shall be construed as prohibiting cannot be construed as imposing a mandatory duty. Rather, such language grants local governing authorities the power to pay, in their discretion, any and all expenses of the coroner's office. The location of Subsection (F) supports this intended meaning as well. Subsection (F) follows (A) setting out statutory fees for fee-basis coroners, (B) mandating that parish governing bodies pay all necessary or unavoidable operational expenses of the coroner's office, and (D) and (E) dividing responsibility for payment of various fees between parishes and municipalities. Subsection (F) simply provides that parishes or municipalities can elect to pick up the cost of expenses of the coroner's office in excess of the limitations in fee amounts contained in Subsection (A), and in spite of the fact that a particular expense may not fall under that particular governmental authority's listed responsibilities in (D) and (E). The court of appeal erred in relying on Subsection (F) to require parish governing bodies to pay salaries for ancillary personnel of the coroner's office. Carriere also claims that since he elected to be paid a salary instead of fees, the Police Jury must pay the salaries of any deputy or assistant coroners as well as all necessary personnel. We have already found that coroners have no authority to make such a choice. Carriere is a fee-basis coroner, and as such, he is responsible for paying the salaries of any deputies or assistants, and all other employees of the St. Landry Parish Coroner's Office. [6] We understand Carriere's complaint that the amount of fees collected by the coroner's office in St. Landry Parish is inadequate to pay salaries for any ancillary personnel. Again, this problem is not a result of any failure on the part of the Police Jury to perform its legislatively mandated duties. Rather, it is a matter that properly addresses itself to the legislature.