A sales tax proposal will be on the May ballot in Eunice. The revenue would be used for public safety.

Eunice police officers are among some of the lowest paid officers in the area. Mayor Scott Fontenot says that’s why the city decided to propose the tax, “Public safety is the number one issue in Eunice right now. And this is a way to where we can tackle this problem and get some more people on the streets and fight the crime and make it a safe community like it is.”

Currently, EPD officers’ starting hourly pay is $9.75. The department has only had two pay raises in the last 21 years; the first was in 1998 and the second was in 2009.

“Pay has been a big issue in Eunice for quite some time and it’s just hard to retain officers, you know, with the little pay they have.”

The tax is a quarter of a cent sales tax; meaning, if you spend four dollars, you’d only pay one penny for the tax. If passed, it would bring in around $600,000 annually.

With that revenue, the city would give police officers a three dollar starting pay increase and fire fighters a two dollar starting pay increase.