Three days before the election, Lafayette Police Chief Toby Aguillard is not supporting Lafayette Parish Sheriff Mark Garber’s law enforcement tax.
In a memo he sent to Lafayette Police Department employees this morning, Chief Aguillard says the proposal only allows for a small percentage of revenue to be provided to the police department.
The chief says he wants the proceeds to the police department to be in proportion to the revenue city taxpayers would be providing and that, according to him, the proposal isn’t even close.
Aguillard goes on to say he hopes to work with the sheriff to increase pay, benefits, training and equipment to all law enforcement officers in the parish.
He is the only police chief in the parish that isn’t supporting the sales tax, which is on Saturday’s ballot.
Find Aguillard’s full memo below.
“Election week is finally upon us, and I wanted all of you to know that for the following reasons I am not supporting the sheriff’s “law enforcement” tax. Early conversations that I had with Sheriff Garber about his tax initiative involved the possibility of the Lafayette Police Department sharing a significant portion of the tax revenue. We discussed using the revenue to develop a new pay plan for the Lafayette Police Department and increasing the amount of officers on the LPD force.
However, as of today’s date, the sheriff has failed to enter an agreement with the Lafayette Consolidated Government regarding splitting the tax revenue. The current tax proposal and the sheriff’s covenant only allow for a small percentage of the revenue to be provided to the Lafayette Police Department, while the lion’s share of the tax revenue will be collected from within the city limits of Lafayette. As Chief of the Lafayette Police Department, my primary duty is towards my employees and the city taxpayers who support us. I believe that the proceeds from the tax initiative to the Lafayette Police Department should be in proportion to that revenue that the city of Lafayette taxpayers are expected to provide. The current sheriff’s proposal is simply not even close.
Know that I share the sheriff’s enthusiasm for increasing pay, benefits, training, and equipment to all of our Lafayette Parish law enforcement officers. Although I do not believe that the current tax proposal is the vehicle needed to get us there, I am committed to working with Sheriff Garber and others to get this goal accomplished.”
