The Church Point Town Council unanimously approved a pay raise for the town’s police department patrol officers.
Church Point Police Chief Dale Thibodeaux said, “Trying to keep good, quality officers, trying to attract good quality officers — this is not a raise for all Church point police officers. This is for the ones that are on the bottom, basically the ones that are on patrol. That’s why I need to pick them up. Not everybody will get a raise.”
He added, “This is for the guys that’s making $12 an hour.”
The raise will increase a patrol officer’s salary from $12 an hour to $13 an hour.
Thibodeaux said he thoroughly researched the department’s budget to cover the cost of the raise. He said he was able to eliminate a spot at the department, and the proposed raise would not increase the department’s budget. He also discussed the proposed raises with the town’s administration, including Mayor Ryan “Spanky” Meche prior to the meeting, and Meche said he fully supported the proposed pay increase.
“I think they deserve (the raise), and we need to keep good, quality officers,” Thibodeaux said.
Thibodeaux also asked for a raise for himself during the meeting, and the council unanimously approved the introduction of an ordinance to raise the CPPD chief salary up to $48,942.94.
“I didn’t want to take it back then (a previous raise offer) because if I could not give my officers a raise, I didn’t want raise,” Thibodeaux said. “Now I have seen it to where I can do that — I can give myself a raise — because comparable salary for a chief in a town this size is $55,000 to $60,000 a year. Right now, I make $40,000. Six thousand dollars for a state supplemental is factored into that for tax purposes only. What I am asking for is still under the $55,000 mark. It’s $54,942.”
A public hearing for the chief’s raise ordinance will be held five minutes before the council’s next regular meeting.
The council also unanimously approved the individual hirings of one provisional officer, one reserve officer and one provisional officer, pending the officer’s psychological evaluation. The council’s approval filled all of the police department’s vacant positions.
