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Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet continues to hold a firm line against raises for police officers, all but rejecting an official Parish Council request that he allow the Houma Police Department to use money already in its salary account for higher wages.
The Terrebonne Parish Council made the request at their Aug. 26 meeting, in a chamber whose gallery was peppered with the dark uniforms of officers who showed up to support a long-sought pay increase.
But Claudet dug in his heels and said the money Council members want him to use is there in case officers must work overtime for hurricanes or other emergencies. Claudet told Council members that if they voted in the request “then quite honestly, it’s just electioneering.”
The vote came after Houma Police Association President Kyle Faulk addressed the council – for the third time since April – in his attempt to secure pay hikes. On Wednesday, Aug. 19, Faulk emailed a spreadsheet to council members with a list of all of the department’s officers, their respective salaries, and what he proposed their raises should be.
Faulk told the council the total amount needed to give officers raises for the next year is $297,103.10. He reiterated his claim that salaries below acceptable levels make recruiting and retention of officers more difficult.
Money that Faulk earmarked as surplus exists in part because of salaries the department is not paying, due to open spots.
Generally, Claudet told Council members, the money held in reserve for emergencies, if not used, goes into a savings account and eventually pays for capital items like roads and drainage.
The parish’s chief financial officer, Jamie Elfert, confirmed in an interview last week that HPD indeed has a budget overage in the account used for salaries, but that its purpose is to serve as a buffer.
“For several years, we actually struggled in the public safety fund. Literally struggled,” Elfert said. “I was actually scared that we were not going to be able to make it … do more cut backs to just fund the departments that we had… And then Hurricane Katrina hit.”
Elfert explained that in the months following Katrina’s landfall, sales tax collections boomed. Any overages resulting from those collections in different municipal departments were swept up into the general fund for use on non-recurring expenses.
“In the police department, we left it in the reserves because that’s what sustained them for several years,” Elfert said.
But, Elfert explained, that excess was spent over the years and now the department has only what is reserved for times of crisis.
Lt. Bobby O’Brien spoke at the meeting and said that in his opinion HPD can spare some of the overage for raises. O’Brien said the Council approved an additional amount of $200,000 last year for HPD, specifically to cover emergencies.
But Claudet said that money could not be used for salary increases, since it is not a recurring source of cash. Once spent, he said, it would have not source for replenishment.
“I will indicate this: right now, if you [vote this way], then you have to make sure you have funds for next year and the year after that,” Claudet said. “It’s got to be where it’s recurring, and until Jamie finishes that budget, which will be in September, you don’t have any idea … It’s not good fiscal management because I can tell you, you give something to somebody, and you have to be able to give it again and again. You can’t pull it back. Just, just beware.”
Terrebonne Parish Attorney Courtney Alcock said the decision is ultimately up to Claudet. She said it is his responsibility to look at the police department’s finances and decide on what to do.
Councilman Christa Duplantis-Prather said that the council doesn’t dissect the budget like Elfert does and agreed that their “hands are tied” until the parish budget is competed in September.
She said she can’t speak for the other councilmembers, “but [the vote] is a show of support for [our officers] and we want to work with our parish president to make it happen if we can.”
Former HPD Chief Todd Duplantis said that the overage in the account is also a product of the department being short-staffed. The reason the department is short-staffed is because of a lack of initiative to hire more officers, he said.
“If there is an event, god forbid, they can fall back on that money,” Duplantis said. “But instead of going to the council for raises, they need to hit the streets and hire people.”
The department, O’Brien confirmed, uses overtime to take up the slack when it doesn’t have enough officers for desired patrols and programs.
“When we’re short, we pay overtime,” O’Brien said. “We actually have been calling other agencies to come and help us. It’s quite sad, our officers are exhausted.”
But, according to numbers given to The Times by Elfert, the department is still within the limits of their overtime budget. They’ve spent a little over $2 million of $3.817 million budgeted for overtime by the Aug. 17 pay period for officers, representing 52 percent of the total budget, although the year is already 64 percent complete.
Claudet also noted that there will be many adjustments to the parish budget because collections from oil royalties have fallen $2 million short of the $5 million that were projected before the drop in oil prices and sales tax collections have been down by 10 percent for the last couple of months.
“Listen, I’d like to be Santa Clause for everybody, but all budget amendments have to go through me, and that’s my appreciation,” Claudet said.
