Chris Landry / The Abbeville Meridional
Delcambre mayor Pam Blakely discusses the departure of an officer from the town’s police department. Blakely sought to get a pay raise for two police officers from $13.50 an hour to $15 an hour. The aldermen said that the town doesn’t have a way to pay for a raise right now, but Blakely said it will cost a lot more if the town loses two officers. ‘What I’m saying is, it’s going to cost us a lot more than 15 dollars an hour if we have two less policemen,’ Blakely said.
Delcambre officer says he was led to believe pay raise would be coming soon
DELCAMBRE — The town of Delcambre is losing at least one member of its police department, the Board of Aldermen learned at its monthly meeting on Monday.
The officer told the board he is leaving because he had been led to believe he would receive a pay increase from $13.50 an hour to $15 an hour, but that raise never came to fruition.
The policeman said he had been led to believe on three or four occasions that a raise would be forthcoming.
Mayor Pam Blakely asked the board of they would approve a raise to that amount, but the board didn’t feel it could pay for the raise.
“I don’t disagree it would be great to increase (the pay), but we can’t increase without looking at the cost implications, where the money is coming from,” Alderman Bryan Glatter said. “If we could get the penny sales tax passed (in October)…”
“So what do we do by October if we don’t have
“What are we going to do in October if we don’t have two police (officers)?” Blakely asked.
“We did an analysis (of costs to similar communities), and we were all in the range,” Glatter said. “You’re always going to have someone that’s going to pay more.”
“What I’m saying is, it’s going to cost us a lot more than 15 dollars an hour if we have two less policemen,” Blakely said. “I’m going to tell you right now, if I made $15 an hour, I’d cry. With their jobs?”
“I don’t disagree with you, but it’s a choice that they have to make, and we need to figure out how we can fund this,” Glatter said. “I can’t say to increase the salary when I don’t know if we have enough money to budget this. The police (department) is already over budget by 20 to 40 thousand dollars.”
“If we give him $1.50 an hour more, is he going to stay?” Alderman Garrett Frederick asked.
The answer from the officer was no.
“You’re not staying no matter what?” Blakely asked. “Okay, we’re done.”
The officer also will be required to pay the town back for cost of sending him to police academy, as he did not stay the required time after attending the academy.