Morgan City Council looks for money for police, fire raises

A dozen or so police officers and firefighters met with Morgan City government officials Thursday, hoping they can find a way to boost public safety pay and slow expensive personnel losses to better-paying departments.
Nothing was formally decided at the Morgan City Council Budget Committee meeting at the Recreation Department building. But the consensus leaned toward asking Morgan City voters for a sales tax or property tax dedicated to public safety pay, or both.
“We all know you need and deserve the raises,” Finance Director Deborah Garber said. “That’s not even an argument. We’re here to figure out how to do it.”
At the April 26 City Council meeting, Police Chief James F. Blair said entry-level police officers in Morgan City make $12.09 an hour, $4 less than the average for nearby cities.
That’s even though the department handled 14,000 calls last year, more than any other law enforcement agency in St. Mary Parish.
As a result, Blair told the council, some officers are forced to take second jobs. And 40 officers have left the department in the last three years, he said.
“It’s just something that got kicked down the road and kicked down the road to the point where it is now ...,” Blair said Thursday. “We can’t sustain losing 40 people every three years.”
Fire Chief Alvin Cockerham finds himself in a similar situation. He said Thursday the starting pay at the Morgan City Fire Department works out to $8.25 an hour.
Starting firefighters in Franklin make $700 a month more than those in Morgan City, Cockerham said.
At the April 26 meeting, the City Council approved a $1 an hour raise for 22 entry-level Police Department employees. Thursday’s Budget Committee meeting started with the idea of giving those employees another $3 raise and other fire and police employees a $4 raise.
The challenge will be finding the money.
The operating expenses for the Police Department total about $3.2 million, and for the Fire Department $2.5 million, according to figures presented Thursday by Garber. Within a few years, the $4-an-hour police and firefighter raises are expected to cost $1 million a year.
Council members said there’s no room for that in the current budget. The anticipated year-end fund balance is about $702,000.
Councilman Tim Hymel said he doesn’t see enough room for other budget cuts that could save enough to cover the across-the-board raises.
“The only way to come up with the money is to put together a sales tax or a property tax,” Hymel said.
“People need to step up to the plate,” said Mayor Pro Tem Steven Domangue, “and take care of the people who take care of them.”
Mayor Lee Dragna said one possible proposal would be a sales tax coupled with a property tax. He mentioned a 0.3% sales tax and a 5-mill property tax.
Councilman Mark Stephens, who said he isn’t opposed to the idea of a public safety tax, also said the tax may be hard to sell to voters.
Nationally, inflation is running at an annual rate of 8%, and gasoline costs more than $4 a gallon.
When former Mayor Frank “Boo” Grizzaffi opposed the parishwide 0.45% sales tax for teacher pay in 2020, he noted that it would put the combined state and local tax rate in Morgan City over 9%.
Dragna and the council members said they and the public safety employees will have to educate the public about the need for the tax.
The council mentioned March 25, 2023, as a possible date for a tax election.