Town Talk Church Point
Town Talk Church Point
Mayor Spanky and Chief Dale discuss the upcoming election for the half cent sales tax
In this episode of the town talk podcast, Mayor Spanky Meche and Chief Dale Thibodeaux discuss the upcoming election for the half cent sales tax.
It's another Town Talk podcast. It is Chris. It is Mayor Spanke. We have another guest with us today. And that is Chief Dale Thibodeau from the Church Point Police Department. Mayor, how are you? Very well, very well. Uh, Chief, how are you? Very good. We have something coming up. We have an election on November 15th, and it is for a half cent sales tax, which is going to be used for police. We're just going to get into it. Chief, I want to ask you, how did this come about? Why did it come about?
SPEAKER_00:Well, Chris, it's come about because the last time a tax was ever passed for the police department to fund the police department was in 2012. Now, that tax over since 2012 has just not been able to fund the police department anymore. And the police department is having to get its money, the difference from other entities. As everybody knows, everything goes up every year. Police department is nothing different. And so we we need this sales tax to be able to fund ourselves without having to cripple the other departments or the community.
SPEAKER_02:That half percent sales tax, the money is going directly to the police department.
SPEAKER_00:Right. The money goes directly to the police department. It's written in the tax.
SPEAKER_01:That tax dedicated to the police department goes from the people that take the taxes into the police department's account. It doesn't go into the town of Church Point's general fund, which can be spent for things other than police department. When that check comes in right now, there's a 1%. This will be a 0.5. So it'd be 1.5%. So every month when that check comes in, it's direct deposited into the police department account. And a lot of people have uh the, you know, how are they not gonna spend it somewhere else? That's how, because you cannot spend police money on anything else. I just wanted to kind of hone in on that because that's always a question of, you know, if we do this, well, how do we know that it's not going to this?
SPEAKER_02:You know, Chief, now with this money, if this passes, what is it going to be used for?
SPEAKER_00:It's gonna be used for officer salaries, uh, training, which right now we we we do the best we can with training, but we we do need a lot more training. Uh the hiring of, you know, whenever an officer leaves, the hiring of a of a good qualified officer instead of having to to hire somebody that that that's you know not performing well. We want good quality officers. I believe in a department being proactive, not reactive. And uh it's also gonna be used for equipment. We have we've purchased some new cars the last, I think two years ago, but it's coming to the point where the old ones that we had are gonna need to be replaced. So we can replace that. Uh we need equipment in the cars that that that's up to date. We're still working on uh aged body armor. So it is to benefit the officers and it's to benefit the department. We have to move up with the times.
SPEAKER_02:The tax doesn't go through, Chief. That does that mean anything for the town?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, it's gonna mean a cut in patrol. Could mean a cut in officers, is cutting equipment. Um, and if you cut officers, that's less patrols. And right now, we like I said, I believe in being proactive, so we do a lot of patrolling. People see that all the time. That will diminish. The the tax is for the betterment and the safety of the citizens of Church Point. It's not to make us more money than we know what to do with, it's just to get by.
SPEAKER_02:November 15th is when the election is. It's gonna be the only thing on the ballot is this half percent sales tax for police. Now, obviously, probably have a lot of people talking, uh, discussing this. Are there any rumors that you would like to maybe debunk things that you've been hearing, Chief, that you might want to set the record straight on?
SPEAKER_00:Yes. Several rumors out there is how you're making the difference now, because the the tax normally brings in 755,000, and it's taking about one to to to fund the department. Well, we're having to get it from the court fund. And that right there is what's having to make up the difference, along with a lot of cuts and a lot of stuff that we need that we can't afford. Uh, that's one of the rumors out there that I want to set straight. This money is it's not to be used just to throw away or or or just to go extravagant. It's not to be used for that. Also, I want to let them know ever a few people are saying, oh, well, look what your concrete parking lot. Not a dime of that parking lot came out the budget. And that parking lot was done for several reasons. One is because in 2016 that police station flooded. That parking lot's gonna help prevent that. The water will not get in the building, hopefully, like it did in 2016, which was a major flood. That tree that was in the middle of the parking lot was dropping branches on a regular basis. It was just one good storm to come and it was gonna create a disaster. The parking lot was asphalt and it was full of holes that was aged, and people could have walked in there and twisted their ankles. I've twisted mine in that same parking lot. So it was done for the betterment of not only the building and the police department, but it was done for the betterment of the town.
SPEAKER_01:I'm gonna just tag in there, Dale. Um, with saying not one cent came from the police budget for the parking lot. You are 100% correct. The police station is a town building, which is owned by the town, which the police department is part of the town, and uh the proceeds that we paid for that came from the town itself. So I just want to make sure I'm clear that you know, if somebody was to say, well, where the money came from, well, it came from the town, but not the police budget. Just to make sure that we clear on that, uh would you agree with that, uh, Chief?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, I agree.
SPEAKER_02:Anything else that we need to add, Chief?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, I just want to let everybody know that we're this this tax is very much needed. And it's not going to be just the people from Church Point who will be paying this tax. When you're gonna come from out of town and you're gonna buy something here, you're helping to fund the police department so the police department can provide the best possible protection for the citizens of Church Point.
SPEAKER_02:All right, Chief Mayor, thank you for joining in on this episode of the Town Talk Podcast. Again, the election November 15th. This is gonna be the only thing on the ballot, the only thing that we have to vote for. So go out and cast your vote. Again, that is November 15th.
SPEAKER_01:Go vote. It's your right.