Could a volunteer fire company use parish fire-protection money to pay annual bonuses for accident-free driving?

Plain-English summary

Marrero-Estelle Volunteer Fire Co. No. 1 proposed paying up to $1,000 a year to an employee who had no driving accident and asked whether the public funds received under its Jefferson Parish fire-protection contract could pay the award. In November 2015, the Attorney General concluded that the proposed payment was not an appropriate use of those funds.

The AG distinguished a merit award for an unusual benefit from an incentive for doing what the role already required. It treated safe driving as an ordinary duty of fire company volunteers. Although the request reported fewer accidents under the program, the AG said the bonus did not appear to further the economy or efficiency of a fire-protection function and was outside the described contractual and fiduciary use of the public money.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2015. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

Did an accident-free year justify the proposed $1,000 award?

The AG said no for this public-fund program. It considered safe driving part of the normal, expected duties of fire company personnel.

Did the reported reduction in accidents change the answer?

No. The opinion acknowledged the reported decrease, but still found the proposed payment inappropriate under its public-funds analysis.

Was every employee award forbidden by the opinion?

No. The AG distinguished merit awards given for special benefits from incentives for ordinary required performance. It decided the specific safe-driving proposal.

Background and statutory framework

The opinion applied La. Const. art. VII, § 14 to funds the company received under its fire-protection contract. It drew on La. Atty. Gen. Op. No. 85-0700, which had reached a similar result for sheriff’s department safe-driving awards, and considered the company’s duty to spend the contract funds for fire-protection services.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/15-0130

Original opinion text

~tate of 'PJoui9iana
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
P.O. BOX 94005
BATON ROUGE

JAMES D. "BUDDY" CALDWELL
70B04-9005
ATIORNEY GENERAL

NOV 3 0 2015
OPINION 15-0130
90-A-1 PUBLIC FUNDS & CONTRACTS
La. Consl. art. VII. § 14

Mr. David Romano, Assistant Chief
Payment of a bonus to employees of the Marrero-Estelle
Volunteer Fire Co. No. 1 as part of a Safe Driving Program Marrero Estelle Volunteer Fire Co. NO.1 would not be an appropriate use of the public funds received
2248 Barataria Boulevard
pursuant to its contract with the Jefferson Parish Fire
Protection District to provide fire protection services. Safe
Marrero, LA 70072
driving is part of the ordinary, expected, and required duties of
a volunteer of the Marrero-Estelle Volunteer Fire Co. No.1 and would not further the economy or efficiency of any function
Dear Mr. Romano,
related to fire protection.

Your request for an Attorney General's Opinion has been assigned to me for research and reply. On behalf of the Marrero-Estelle Volunteer Fire Co. No.1 ("Marrero-Estelle"), you have asked our opinion regarding a Safe Driving Program ("Program") which pays employees up to $1000 a year for each year an employee is not involved in a driving accident. You state that the Program was implemented in order to encourage employees to drive safely and that you have seen a decrease in the amount of accidents as a result. According to your request, the Marrero-Estelle auditor believes the Program is a proper expenditure of the public funds received by Marrero-Estelle pursuant to its contract with the Jefferson Parish Fire Protection District to provide fire protection services.

In La. Atty. Gen. Op. No. 85-0700, our office addressed a similar question of whether a program awarding employees of a Sheriffs department for safe driving was authorized.
In that opinion, we distinguished between a merit award and an incentive award, noting that while merit awards do not violate La. Const. art. VII, § 14, as they are given in return for special benefits that the municipality receives, an incentive award for performance ordinarily expected or required by the employee would be a gratuity and, therefore, prohibited. We ultimately expressed our opinion that safe driving constitutes an ordinary, expected, or required duty of the employee and, therefore, the payment of a bonus as a reward for an employee's performance of his Of her normal duties would be prohibited by La. Const. art. VII, § 14.

The above analysis is relevant to the proposed payments of the Marrero-Estelle Safe Driving Program. Driving safely is a part of the normal duties of the volunteers of Marrero-Estelle and not an unusual or meritorious action or accomplishment. The payment of a bonus for driving safely driving does not appear to further the economy or

Page 2

Mr. David Romano
Opinion 15-0130
Page 2

efficiency of any function related to fire protection. Using the public funds received by Marrero-Estelle pursuant to its contract with the Jefferson Parish Fire Protection District to pay a bonus to its volunteers pursuant to a Safe Driving Program would not appear to be authorized by its contractual and fiduciary duty to expend the funds for fire protection services.

It is therefore the opinion of this office that the payment of a bonus to employees of the Marrero-Estelle Volunteer Fire Co. NO.1 as part of a Safe Driving program would not be an appropriate use of the public funds received by the Marrero-Estelle Volunteer Fire Co. No. 1 pursuant to its contract with the Jefferson Parish Fire Protection District to provide fire protection services.

We hope this sufficiently answers your inquiry; however, if we may be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact our office.

With best regards,

JAMES D. "BUDDY" CALDWELL
ATTORNEY GENERAL

By:
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A-ndrea Barient
Assistant Attorney General