Could things be turning around financially for the Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s Office?
In September 2016, Sheriff Eddie Soileau faced the Louisiana State Bond Commission requesting to borrow $1 million for his office. Present at the hearing with Soileau was Evangeline Parish Tax Assessor Dirk Deville, whose office entered into a cooperative endeavor agreement with the sheriff’s office to assist in creating a plan to address the department’s deficit.
The sheriff’s request for the $1 million occurred after he declared his department was broke in August 2016, which forced the sheriff’s office to downsize by way of massive layoffs. Along with layoffs, the remaining employees’ salaries were cut 10 percent.
On Thursday however, Soileau announced that the Evangeline Parish Law Enforcement District will be able to repay the $1 million loan,” which had a maturity date of April 1, on time.
The check was officially cut and mailed to Whitney Bank on March 31.
In his statement though, Soileau cautioned that while the current operations of the office are manageable to finish the present fiscal year, the sheriff’s office does anticipate needing to borrow more money “to run things both efficiently and effectively through the next fiscal year.” However, the amount will be “substantially less” than the $1 million borrowed in 2016.
Soileau stated, “We project that we will need to borrow approximately half that amount in order to advance. This will include restoring some of our personnel positions that we lost through layoffs and the 10 percent salary reductions the employees sacrificed since September.
“Given our current management plan, we are comfortable projecting operating in the black in the foreseeable future.”
The sheriff closed his statement by recognizing the efforts of Deville and his office’s certified public accountant, Joshua Fontenot.
