ERATH, KATC — The town of Erath has approved a half-cent sales tax to fund its police department, marking the first time the small community has implemented a tax specifically for law enforcement.
Police Chief Anna LaPointe said the tax, expected to generate approximately $165,000 annually, is essential to maintaining 24-hour operations and meeting increasing costs.
“If we wouldn’t have gotten the tax, then eventually the town wouldn’t have been able to fulfill all of its needs as the police department would need,” LaPointe said.
The tax, which takes effect April 1, 2025, will allocate a portion of sales tax revenue to the police department’s general fund. LaPointe explained the funds will cover critical expenses, including payroll, equipment, and rising retirement costs.
“The funds were getting limited as far as everything is increasing, and we have to continue increasing as those things increase,” she said.
Without the additional funding, the department faced the possibility of significant cutbacks.
“At that point, we would have to start cutting back,” LaPointe said. “Whether that would have been letting go of dispatch, to where our department wouldn’t have been a 24-hour functioning department … we would have had to lock the department, and that’s one thing we did not want to happen.”
The measure, approved by 85 voters, reflects growing support for local law enforcement in Erath.
“It makes me feel like the community is looking out for the police department,” LaPointe said.
This decision follows a statewide tax reform package passed last month, which temporarily increased the state sales tax to 5%.
Starting next April, residents purchasing items in Erath will contribute a portion of sales tax revenue to the police department. LaPointe said the funding is critical to sustaining essential services.
“It could be equipment or basic payroll,” she said. “Police retirement is rising every year, so to continue the benefits of the police department, officers, and everyday community services, we needed that tax just to do our normal day-to-day stuff without having to stop some of those services.”
