BATON ROUGE — Four members of the East Baton Rouge Metro Council asked Mayor Sid Edwards on Wednesday to pull his police pay raise plan from council consideration and spread smaller raises across all departments in city-parish government.
Edwards says he prefers the plan he has proposed and is unlikely to reconsider.
The police pay raise, which Edwards presented to the council two weeks ago and is scheduled to be considered at the council’s April 22 meeting, would give officers at least a 15 percent raise and would put police starting pay at $58,000 a year.
The increase, which would make Baton Rouge Police one of the best-paying departments in the state, will cost about $12.5 million a year. Much of the money to fund the pay raises comes from savings from switching retirees to a different benefits plan, a move that saved about $16 million.
MORE: Mayor Edwards proposes historic pay raise for BRPD
Edwards, who attended the councilmembers’ press conference Wednesday morning said he was not convinced, explaining that he doubted very seriously that he would remove the police pay raise from the council’s next meeting agenda.
“The plan I’ve got is, I think, solid,” he said.
Councilman Cleve Dunn says the savings add up to enough money to implement the recommendations of a 2023 pay study commissioned by the city-parish.
“If you look at the pay study that was done by Management Advisory Group in 2023 and produced to us in 2024, that data, that research, that evaluation of our pay plan, our HR, our departments, suggested that to bring every city parish employee to a competitive wage and a livable wage, it would take some $13 million. If you look at all the different savings that the mayor’s office, us as council members, has talked about, has worked on, we have about $13 million to bring everybody to a compatible, livable wage, backed up by that pay study,” Dunn said.
Councilman Darryl Hurst said police could still get a substantial pay raise under this plan, with starting pay increasing to more than $52,000 a year. Enough money would still be available to boost pay for all city-parish workers, he said.
Councilwoman Carolyn Coleman said broadening the pay raise plan is simply the right thing to do.
“Efficient law enforcement is essential,” she said. “That’s a must have; finance, a must have; the mail room, a must have; DPW, a must have, and all of the others.”
The council members at the press conference said they do not support Edwards’ current plan. Dunn said Councilwoman Twahna Harris is on board with them but could not be there Wednesday morning.
The council is made up of 12 members, so five votes against the police pay plan would not be enough to stop it.
Councilman Aaron Moak, who attended the press conference but was not among the group calling for change, said that because of separate retirement programs for police and most of the rest of city-parish government, the “back end” costs for broader raises – health benefits and retirement — make the costs significantly higher.
City Constable Terrica Williams, who has complained about her officers being excluded from the mayor’s plan, said she hopes Edwards will take another look at the plan and reconsider. She threatened legal action if the plan is approved without raises for her staff.
It’s an issue Mayor Edwards discussed at length in the latest episode of UWK’s Podcast Louisiana Unfiltered.
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