Morgan City Council calls for tax election for police, firefighter pay

Morgan City’s mayor and council took a step Tuesday toward fulfilling a pledge they made eight months ago. Now it’s in the hands of city voters.

The council on Tuesday approved a resolution setting a special election April 29 on a proposed half-percent sales tax dedicated to pay for city police officers and firefighters. The proceeds would also be used to train them.

Also Tuesday, the council elected Councilman Lou Tamporello as mayor pro tem for the coming year. Tamporello succeeds Steve Domangue, who was elected mayor pro tem in January 2022.

The resolution calling for the sales tax election must be approved by the State Bond Commission, approval that is often, but not always, a matter of routine. The tax would raise about $1.3 million per year, according to the resolution.

As former Police Chief James F. Blair approached retirement in May 2022, he implored the council to find money to raise the pay for his officers. Blair put a large portion of the blame for a high turnover rate — 40 resignations or retirements within the previous three years — on low pay.

At the time, the starting pay for Morgan City PD officers was $12.09 per hour. That was about $4 less than the average starting hourly wage for departments between Franklin and Houma.
Blair called the turnover rate unsustainable.

The City Council approved a $1 per hour raise for 22 entry-level department employees. Mayor Lee Dragna and council members agreed that the raise wasn’t enough and promised to look for more money.

When Chad M. Adams was appointed by Dragna to be the new chief in October, Adams said he was talking to the mayor and council about a new source of funding, for training as well as for raising pay.

“We’re trying to make sure officers have training and continuing training ...,” Adams said after assuming the chief’s role. “It’s hard when you’ve got a turnover rate like that.”

The situation faced by Fire Chief Alvin Cockerham may be, if anything, even more serious.

On Wednesday, Cockerham said the Fire Department is six line firefighters short of the full strength of 32.

The starting pay for firefighters is $8.36 per hour, compared to the $10.75-$12.74 paid by other local departments.

“We’re close to the minimum, and we can’t hire people because of the low pay,” Cockerham said.

State law requires fire stations to have at least a captain and an operator on duty. If vacations or illness cuts into available manpower, Cockerham said, he may have no choice but to close one of the city’s four fire stations until it can be staffed.

Cockerham hopes the sales tax will allow the department to raise starting pay to at least $10-$11.

“It’ll help us keep people and hire some new ones,” Cockerham said.

As with the Police Department, training is also part of the equation. New firefighters attend training at LSU for 14 weeks and then undergo more training on local equipment and procedures.

“Once you’ve got him, you’ve invested a lot of money in him,” Cockerham said.

Now city officials will begin the task of persuading voters that the tax is needed.

“I’m going to be out there trying to convince people,” Cockerham said.