BATON ROUGE, La. (KLFY) – Louisiana State Police are facing millions of dollars in cuts that they say could impact the very services they provide.
Top LSP officials addressed the state senate finance committee today to explain how the proposed 23-million in spending cuts would impact public safety come to the start of the new fiscal year July 1st.
In a vote of 63 to 40, house bill one passed the house earlier this month and is now under review by the senate.
According to state police, in HSB 1, the governor reduced the overall budget by $5.5 million, and the republican version of his proposal took another $18.5 million…putting the public safety budget for 2018 at a total of $450 million.
LSP said that additional $18.5 million in cuts would threaten services to the public.
This would include limited funds to purchase fleet vehicles, with half of the units due for replacements, make software upgrades and cause overtime reductions – which means less troopers on the roads.
LSP is also facing an impending “retirement cliff” with 280 of its 17-hundred employees eligible for retirement next year, which could result in major vacancies.