LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) – As we’ve reported, Lafayette Sheriff Mark Garber has a parish-wide half-cent sales tax on the ballot this Saturday with a goal of raising officer pay, improving facilities and updating equipment.

But the sheriff has been met with pushback from the leader of the Lafayette Police Department.

Lafayette Chief of Police Toby Aguillard sent an email to his staff, explaining why he is not supporting Sheriff Garber and his tax proposal.

We sat down with the chief to get a better understanding of his views.

The December 8 election is closing in and after much speculation, Chief Aguillard is speaking out about why he opposes the sheriff’s tax proposal.

Aguillard says, “There’s too many unanswered questions. I think that we need to come back to the table and really take a harder look and give the people the answers they’re looking for. I still have questions.”

Some of those answers include how the tax revenue will be split.

Chief Aguillard says the sheriff has yet to enter into an agreement with Lafayette Consolidated Government agreeing to terms.

“As a voter, as a citizen who lives and works in the city of Lafayette, I want to know the answers to these questions before we simply give the sheriff a blank check”, the chief said.

Chief Aguillard added that he’s not against increasing officer pay, upgrading equipment, and facilities, but certain steps should be followed first.

“When we go to the citizens and ask them to support this kind of effort I think we need to have all our ducks in a row. We need to be able to show concretely exactly what these dollars are going to be spent on.”

We spoke to the sheriff about Chief Aguillard’s concerns, the sheriff says he’s got the plan laid out plain in this covenant he filed with the Lafayette Parish Clerk of Court.