Photograph: Opelousas assistant fire chief Bryan Chavis and fire chief Richard Joseph address a Budget Committee Monday nigh. (Photograph by Bobby Ardoin)
BOBBY ARDOIN
Editor/Consulting Writer
If Opelousas firefighters don’t receive a pay raise anytime soon, the department, says interim Fire Chief Richard Joseph, will continue losing experienced personnel.
In addition Joseph and assistant chief Bryan Chavis told a Board of Aldermen Budget Committee on Monday night that unless the city agrees to pay more, they expect prospective firefighters to bypass OFD and look elsewhere for entry level employment.
Joseph came to the monthly budget meeting asking for a $1.50 base salary increase for his firefighters. Instead the request by Joseph was reduced to a proposed 90-cents after city attorney Travis Broussard said that in his opinion, the department budget at this time, could not withstand paying a higher amount for the raises.
Chavis scoffed at the the 90-cent offer.
“That’s not even a band aid,” Chavis told the committee.
The Committee however agreed unanimously to discuss the matter further in April during a regular meeting, although at this time they are not recommending any specific amount for a proposed increase.
During the extended meeting budget chairman Charles Cummings told Joseph that it might be more prudent to wait until June when there might be more clarity about how much is available in the OFD budget for a potential pay raise.
Joseph said during an interview that he currently has 41 full-time firefighters. Ideally Joseph added, the department needs about 49 in order to be fully staffed.
Over the next few years Joseph told the Committee that he expects to lose a significant number of firefighters due to low pay.
Surrounding municipal departments Joseph said, offer considerably higher base salaries. The department has recently lost one experienced firefighter, while two others have also left the department during the past few months.
Retirement Joseph claimed, will soon affect five other firefighters. Over the next six years Joseph expects that 14 firefighters plan to leave OFD.
What Joseph told the committee is that he is glancing towards the departmental horizon and not just the immediate situation.
“I’m looking at the future of the department. I want to make sure that the fire department stays solid,” Joseph said.
Broussard said that the OFD budget indicates that 90 cents might be all the department can afford to use for pay raises.
Cummings said that after scanning the budget, it appears the fire department might need at least $300,000 to cover the increases that Joseph is proposing.’
Broussard added that the firefighters’ request for a raise is also affected by the annual 2 1/2 percent cost of living increases provided to city employees.
“The way I see it, the big issue you (the department) have is finding the money to keep with the the 2/12 percent and the retirement. That’s what is pressing against the raises,” said Broussard.
Alderman Milton Batiste III said the city can’t become encumbered financially by agreeing to raises the department might not be able to afford.
Marvin Richard, an alderman who is not a committee member, saw the situation differently.
“Let’s do it right. We got the money. Stop with all this. We’re losing firefighters,” Richard said.
