By Robert Morgan

Gannett Capital Bureau

BATON ROUGE ­- Louisiana lawmakers had no questions about an $18,000 annual pay raise for state Education Superintendent Cecil Picard but were less enthusiastic about giving workers in the secretary of state's office raises of $3,000 or less.

Legislators were particularly concerned that proposed raises for employees in the commercial division of the State Department come on the heels of a questionable 10 percent increase in pay reportedly given to employees in the Elections Department.

News reports said Elections employees were given 10 percent raises just five days before the Oct. 4 primary when Elections Commissioner Suzanne Haik Terrell lost in her bid to become attorney general. Terrell, a Republican, was defeated by Democrat Charles Foti.

Pay raises were among a variety of issues discussed Friday by the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget.

The panel raised no objections when asked to endorse previous action by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education increasing Picard's pay to $180,000 annually, up from $162,000.

In explaining BESE's decision in October, Paul Pastorek said, "The board believes the superintendent has done a very good job." He praised Picard's efforts in improving public schools and especially in promoting prekindergarten education.

But Pastorek also pointed out Picard will not hold the superintendent's job forever. "We would like to make sure the pay is competitive to attract the highest quality applicants to the job."

The budget committee quickly approved BESE's decision.

And although the panel raised no objections to the final motion to grant raises to State Department employees, members grilled First Assistant Secretary Al Ater in detail before voting.

"The salaries that these people are making (are) far less than people are making in these other (state) agencies," Ater said, adding that low pay has been given as the primary reason for high turnover in the commercial division. The annual turnover in the commercial division has been 31 percent and among security employees, 40 percent and "in the purchasing section, we've had 100 percent turnover in the past three years," he said.

The raises would only go to 67 of the department's 184 employees, Ater said, emphasizing those getting raises are in the most need.

Annual salaries range from $20,000 in security to $48,000 paid to a worker in the uniform commercial code section, he said.

But Sen. John "Jay" Dardenne, R-Baton Rouge, said, "We do have an alarming rate of turnover in all areas of state government." The raises might better have been presented as part of the 2004-5 budget debate in the next regular session, he said.

Sen. Ken Hollis, R-Metairie, pointed to the raises given to Elections Department employees and noted that department is to be merged into State next year.

"I had absolutely nothing to do with granting the 10 percent pay raises five days before the election," Ater said. He would like assurances that money for the Elections raises is available.

Raises for employees in the commercial section will be funded from fees collected by the department, he said.

Budget Director Raymond Stockstill said the Elections raises were given in spite of a prior rejection of the proposal by the Division of Administration. Stockstill said the administration is attempting to get the raises rescinded.

Following assurances from Ater that raises for commercial division workers were not tied to any other section, the committee approved the request to increase State's budget by $429,011.