GONZALES — Gonzales city officials are looking into whether the mayor is being paid too much.

The Advocate reported Monday that Mayor Tim Riley's salary has climbed from around $125,590 to $134,035 in the past 15 months.

While the city council approved paying Riley $130,237 last August, Councilman Kirk Boudreaux told the newspaper that  Riley shouldn't have benefited from an across-the-board 2 percent raise last September. 

"If any step should have been taken, it should be just one step for an anniversary," Boudreaux said. "He made one year in January."

Former Senior Accountant Alanda Viger, who said she worked for the city from 2019 until she was fired in June, said the city council had to vote for merit increases for the mayor and police chief.

"The only time that the mayor or the chief of police could receive a pay raise would be when it was voted on by council," she said. 

Chief of Staff Wade Petite said he didn't know how the system worked.

"I have no idea how the steps work and never even tried to figure it out because it's not relevant to our day-to-day stuff," he said.