ERIK SANZENBACH / L’Observateur / July 1, 2000

LAPLACE – St. John Parish Sheriff Wayne L. Jones announced Tuesday hewill call for a special election on Oct. 7 to ask the voters to approve anincrease of the sales tax to 1/4 cent.

Citing increasing costs and the need for more manpower, Jones said the increased tax is needed to maintain the present level of law enforcement.

“We have seen a real reduction in crime,” said Jones. “We want to maintainthat, and that is why we are asking for this.”Several years ago the sheriff was able to hire 14 more officers because of a federal program called the Universal Hiring Grant. Under the program thefederal government paid 75 percent of the officer’s training and salary and the sheriff’s office picked up the other 25 percent.

The grants are soon to run out. In December Jones will have to absorb thecost for six of the officers hired under the grant and the remaining eight officers will lose the grant next June.

In order to keep these officers on the street, Jones will need the $1.1million that will be raised by the increased sales tax.

“It is crucial that we have enough men on the street,” said Jones.

He said the money raised by the sales tax will be more than enough to take care of these 14 officers plus will allow him to hire eight additional officers over the next 24 months.

As an example, he said that right now there is only one officer who patrols the Cambridge subdivision. There has been an increase in activityin that neighborhood, and he would like to put more officers in the area.

He also cited that with the construction of the new jail there was also an increase in the number of correctional officers. In July 1995 the jailemployed 155 employees, and that has jumped to 200 in the past two years.

Jones said he would also like to give a raise to his correctional employees. Right now they make $1,350 a month, and he would like toraise that to $1,550 a month.

This tax is a separate item for the St. John Parish Law EnforcementDistrict and has nothing to do with the sales tax increases proposed by the St. John Parish Council and the St. John Parish School Board.The parish council’s call for a 1/4 cent sales tax is to fund the parish court system, and the school board wants to be able to give their teachers a competitive wage increase.

If the sheriff’s tax passes in October, the sales tax rate in the parish will go up to 8 1/4 percent.

Jones said this is the first tax increase his office has asked for since Sheriff Lloyd Johnson called for a millage election back in 1981. Johnsongot the voters to approve a 15 mill increase at the time.

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