New Ascension registrar of voters takes pay cut, but gets salary above state starting pay – The Advocate

GONZALES The new Ascension Parish Registrar of Voters is taking a pay cut, or receiving a raise, depending on the perspective.

Shanie Bourg will receive 7.2 percent less than what she received as an elections administrator at the Secretary of State's office. At $91,500, though, she will also receive 16.5 percent above the standard starting pay of $78,526 for parish registrars. The parish is kicking in an extra $12,974.

Bourg is replacing the longtime Registrar of Voters Robert Poche', who retired in late January after nearly 40 years on the job and with a salary of around $114,570 per year.

The lifetime appointee maintains the list of eligible, registered voters in the parish and helps ensure local elections run smoothly.

GONZALES Murphy Painter, a former top law enforcement official in Louisiana who is suing Ascension Parish's president and others over allege

Council Chair Teri Casso said the salary level was negotiated among Bourg and other parish officials.

"We came up with something that was not quite what she wanted and in keeping with her experience and ability to get the job done," Casso said. The salary can be reviewed later.

At the Secretary of State's Office, she earned $98,571.

GONZALES Shanie Bourg,an elections administrator for the Louisiana Secretary of State's Office, beat out a field of 13 people, including fo

The council adopted Bourg's pay rate Thursday with no discussion and no opposition.

Bourg said the office has a $30,000 surplus that could have been used to boost her pay further, but she said the office could use an extra position to improve the diversity of the office and to meet her goals to increase voter registration levels.

"I would rather take that money and try and diversify this office and get it where it needs to be," she said.

Diversity was one of the consistent questions of council members during interviews earlier this month of candidates that included a handful of Black candidates, though none became a finalist. Under Poche' in recent years, the office had been made up entirely of White women, except for him. Bourg is a White woman.

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New Ascension registrar of voters takes pay cut, but gets salary above state starting pay - The Advocate