Harlan Kirgan
Eunice voters passed a 0.25 percent sales tax to raise police and fire department pay in Saturday’s election.
The turnout was 11.9 percent of the 6,308 registered voters, but of those 78 percent — 588 votes — approved the tax.
Eunice Mayor Scott Fontenot said, “I’m very happy for the men and women that protect our city. They definitely deserve it.”
The tax is expected to raise the starting police pay $3 from the current $9.75 and starting firefighter $2 from the present $8.50.
The tax also will fund increases for police and fire employees at all levels.
The ballot item stated the tax is expected to raise about $640,000 a year, begin July 1 and run in perpetuity.
Business will first pay the tax they collected on Aug. 20, Fontenot said.
The employees will begin seeing the pay raise in October or November, Fontenot said.
The city has been advised to build at least a one month surplus for the raise, he said.
“This was much needed. This going to help for a long time — beyond the time I’m mayor,” he said.
“I think they are going to see the difference — the people in the community. It won’t happen overnight, but give it a little time and you are going to see a difference. I think you are going to have better community policing, for sure. You’ll have officers who know the community, which is a big plus,” Fontenot said.
The pay raise is intended to halt a revolving door of employees, particularly in the police ranks.
Scott Fontenot is the son of Gary “Goose” Fontenot who served three terms as police chief for Eunice.
“I know when I was growing up the police officers knew who we were and we knew who they were,” he said.
The former police chief is in the hospital.
“When I told my dad that it passed he had the biggest smile on his face,” he said.
Eunice Police Chief Randy Fontenot said it is common to have four to five openings at the department.
The department is allocated 47 total employees. The jobs include 33 commissioned officers, including the police chief; five jailers; four record clerks; and four dispatchers.
Pay is the number one reason for the department losing employees and failing to obtain applicants, he said.
“We’ve had people who left here and went to other agencies or to other types of employment and we haven’t had any qualified applicants to replace them,” he said.
The mayor said the turnover in the police department is reflected in training and overtime costs.
A Eunice Police Officer’s Association’s study shows has the Eunice starting pay at $21,294. Carencro has the highest starting police pay at $40,404, followed by Scott at $40,294,80. Starting pay at other area police department is: $24,963.12 at Opelousas; $24,024 at Church Point; $26,710.32 at Iota; and $25,137.84 at Crowley.
An association information sheet states there have been two pay raises for Eunice Police in the past 21 years — in 1998 and 2009. The pay raise in 2009 ranged from 5 cents to $1.25 an hour based on rank.
“Unfortunately, in 2009 the minimum wage went up as well and washed out the raise the department received the same year,” the association stated.
A study four years ago found the department lost about 300 years of experience as officers left for other jobs.
Fire Chief Mike Arnold said his department has 19 employees, which includes the chief, nine firefighter-operators and nine captains.
Like the police department, starting pay for firefighters is often lower than area departments.
Eunice firefighters start at $9 hour. Starting pay for firefighters at other departments includes: $8.65, St. Landry District 3; $9.50, Opelousas; $10.44, Lafayette; $11.99, Carencro; and $12.22, Port Barre.
Police and firefighters gain certification upon successfully passing about three months of training. With the certification and a year of experience, police and firefighters receive a $500 a month stipend from the state.