PayrollMGN Online

How many employees does the Ward 3 Marshal’s Office have? And what are the top five salaries there? 

The Informer directed the questions to Ward 3 Marshal Joey Alcede, who said the city administers his office’s payroll and “would have that info.” 

City officials said their records show that the Ward 3 Marshal’s Office employs 12 people. 

Wendy Goodwin, human resources director, said the city pays $15,641 toward Alcede’s salary, along with $67,974 for the chief deputy marshal; $39,915 for one administrative assistant and $39,873 for another; and $35,900 for one deputy marshal II and $35,817 for another. 

But Goodwin noted that state law allows the marshal to draw from other funding sources to provide and supplement salaries for himself and his workers. 

For example, R.S. 13:1883 says the marshal must receive $7,500 a month “paid in equal proportions” by the parish and the city. 

R.S. 13:2079 says full-time deputy marshals must receive at least $4,800 a month, split between the parish and the city, and that part-time deputy marshals must be paid $1,200 a month. The statute says the marshal “may appoint a secretary or stenographer,” who must receive at least $3,300 a month. 

R.S. 2079.1 allows the marshal to set aside money from fees and service charges in “a special account” in his name to supplement deputies’ pay, offset office expenses and “as may otherwise be useful and necessary for the proper conduct of the office of the marshal.” 

The statute says deputies must pay the payroll taxes for any supplements the marshal provides, and it prohibits deputy marshals from being paid more than the marshal. 

According to his office’s latest financial review, released in July 2017, Alcede received a salary of $187,607 in 2016. The report says the office paid $78,342 in supplemental salaries and $612,023 in wages. 

“Included in intergovernmental revenue is $398,518 of wages paid to Marshal employees by the City of Lake Charles,” the report reads. “These wages are included as expenditures on the Marshal’s statement of revenue, expenditures, and changes in fund balances.” 

Previous years’ audit reports show Alcede’s salary was $168,246 in 2015 and $151,883 in 2014. His office paid $80,626 in supplemental salaries and $525,070 in wages in 2015; the totals in 2014 were $77,430 and $522,118. 

Online: www.legis.la.gov; www.lla. la.gov. 

{{tncms-inline content=”<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><strong>Disclosure form lists income of $442K</strong></span></p> <p class="p2">The Informer, published June 3, 2018, listed the top salaries in the Ward 3 Marshal’s Office and explained the many sources of funding City Marshal Joey Alcede can draw on for his and his workers’ pay.</p> <p class="p2">A reader later emailed The Informer to note that the column lacked the latest income information for Alcede, whose most recent state Ethics Board financial disclosure form, filed in March, lists his income from the marshal’s office as $442,828.26.</p> <p class="p2">Those top salaries again: $67,974 for the chief deputy marshal; $39,915 for one administrative assistant and $39,873 for another; and $35,900 for one deputy marshal II and $35,817.</p>” id=”573c84c3-3563-4fe0-90aa-65988a3108cb” style-type=”update” title=”Updated Information” type=”relcontent”}}

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‘Rule of thumb’ origin not known precisely 

Where does the saying “rule of thumb” come from? 

“Origin?” language maven William Safire wrote in The New York Times in 1998. 

“Could be that carpenters used the width of their thumbs to approximate an inch, or that artists held up their thumbs to gain perspective on a distant object, or that gardeners used their green thumbs as guides to depth of seeding.” 

Folk etymology has long claimed that the phrase originated with an English common law provision that allowed a man to beat his wife with “a stick no thicker than his thumb.” But that theory has since been debunked.

{{tncms-inline content=”<p>The Informer answers questions from readers each Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. It is researched and written by <strong>Andrew Perzo</strong>, an <em>American Press </em>staff writer. To ask a question, call 494-4098 and leave voice mail, or email informer@americanpress.com. </p>” id=”d61a632e-ae82-4c3c-b8fd-c2da1418f081″ style-type=”info” title=”THE INFORMER” type=”relcontent”}}

The Informer answers questions from readers each Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. It is researched and written by Andrew Perzo, an American Press staff writer. To ask a question, call 494-4098 and leave voice mail, or email informer@americanpress.com. 

Disclosure form lists income of $442K

The Informer, published June 3, 2018, listed the top salaries in the Ward 3 Marshal’s Office and explained the many sources of funding City Marshal Joey Alcede can draw on for his and his workers’ pay.

A reader later emailed The Informer to note that the column lacked the latest income information for Alcede, whose most recent state Ethics Board financial disclosure form, filed in March, lists his income from the marshal’s office as $442,828.26.

Those top salaries again: $67,974 for the chief deputy marshal; $39,915 for one administrative assistant and $39,873 for another; and $35,900 for one deputy marshal II and $35,817.