If there was any lingering doubt as to the political stroke of the Louisiana Sheriffs’ Association, one need only watch House Bill 218 do its imitation of Sherman’s March to the Sea.
The bill, authored by State. Rep. Katrina Jackson (D-Monroe) and which gives Louisiana’s sheriffs a 7 percent pay raise, has already sailed through the House with a convincing VOTE of 79-9 with the remaining 16 managing to skip out on the vote.
It now moves on to the Senate Judiciary B Committee where it will be rubber stamped before going to the Senate floor where it is virtually assured of a similarly overwhelming majority approval as it enjoyed in the House.
In the interest of full disclosure, it should be pointed out that neither the sheriffs’ current salaries nor the proposed increase will come from state funds. All sheriffs’ salaries come from their individual budgets but any raises must be approved by the legislature.
But that doesn’t change the fact that sheriffs are among the highest paid public officials in the state. There is not a single sheriff among the 64 parishes who does not make significantly more than the governor of the gret stet of Looziana.
LouisianaVoice painstakingly perused the latest audit reports for every sheriff in the state and found some interesting numbers that might make even the most ardent law and order advocate blanch a little.
Base salaries for sheriffs range from $105,279 for Assumption Parish Sheriff Leland Falcon to $179,227 for East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff Sid Gautreaux but benefits can—and do—kick the bottom line up significantly.
Several small rural parishes are especially generous to their sheriffs when it comes to chipping in extras.
Take John Ballance of Bienville Parish, for example. Ballance, by the way, is a retired State Trooper drawing a pretty hefty pension from the state. His base salary is $144,904 but he gets an additional $82,607 in benefits that bump his overall pay to $227,511. Among his perks are a $14,504 expense allowance, $10,957 in insurance premiums, $41,207 in retirement contributions and—get this: $13,295 in membership dues for the sheriffs’ association. He has the third highest total in benefits in the state. Bonnie and Clyde, who met their demise in Bienville Parish back in 1934, should have made out so well.
Dusty Gates, the sheriff of Union Parish, pulls down $144,938 in base pay but gets an additional $83,652 in benefits (highest in the state), including $13,766 in sheriffs’ association membership dues (it ain’t cheap being a member of the most powerful lobbyist organization in the state).
Gerald Turlich of Plaquemines Parish comes in second in benefits with $83,530 tacked onto his $159,540 base pay—and he doesn’t even get any membership dues. His perks include $36,825 in insurance and $41,038 in retirement.
Nineteen individual sheriffs currently make $225,000 per year or more after benefits are included—and that’s before the proposed increase.
The top ten overall compensation packages, in order, are:
- Turlich (Plaquemines): $243,070;
- Tony Mancuso (Calcasieu): $237,080;
- Ron Johnson (Cameron): $233,556;
- Mike Stone (Lincoln); $232,785;
- Craig Webre (Lafourche): $231,413;
- Julian Whittington (Bossier): $231,100;
- Andrew Brown (Jackson): $230,739;
- Rodney Arbuckle (DeSoto): $230,566 (Arbuckle resigned on March 16);
- Willy Martin (St. James): $229,951;
- Ricky Moses (Beauregard): $229,098.
Conversely, only seven sheriffs earned less than $190,000 per year after benefits were included. They included:
- Falcon (Assumption): $153,637;
- Sam Craft (Vernon): $171,615;
- Randy Smith (St. Tammany): $177,367;
- Eddie Soileau (Evangeline): $180,766;
- James Pohlmann (St. Bernard): $184,057;
- Ronald Theriot (St. Martin): $188,003;
- Toney Edwards (Catahoula): $188,751.
Base salaries are determined by the legislature, according to St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz.
Twenty-four sheriffs have base salaries of $159,540. A 7 percent increase will add $11,167, boosting their base pay to $170,707 before the addition of benefits
Gautreaux’s East Baton Rouge Parish base pay of $179,277 will jump by $12,549, giving him a new base pay of $191826.
Here is a list of all the SHERIFFS’ SALARIES, including base pay and total compensation.
Wait! What? Orleans, Jefferson, East Baton Rouge, Caddo, Ouachita, Lafayette, and Rapides aren’t in the top 10? If not population, what is the basis for these compensation packages?
Oh well. The legislature will use these salaries as an example of waste and corruption and the reason for not voting for taxes to fund Education and Health Care for the masses all because of the greed of the Sheriffs Association.
It’s time to break the strangle hold the Sheriffs have on this state. But that will never happen.
And that doesn’t include the killing they make off slave-labor
prisoners they hire out at very low wages, scooping the lion’s share of salaries for themselves. The good news is the feds are finally going after Jack Strain, former Sheriff of St. Tammany.
Very very interesting , keep up the good work ThomasA.
Neal McFadden
I think it’s a safe bet Sheriff Gerald Turlich has already contacted his Parish President, Amos Cormier, to correct the inequity of not having his Sheriff’s Association dues paid as part of his package.
Why they got to get they raise approve. They use radar make plenty money and you got to pay 3% to get yo property back they go to sell. They ain’t hurting for money so they live off the fat of the lard. Thats what they all need to do
Like the Alabama Sheriff that starved his prisoners and took the unexpended nutrition funds and bought a $750,000 home on the Alabama Gulf, we need to have the State Auditor audit ALL Sheriffs in the State for just such abuses of power. Remember, Power Corrupts!
Want to get the Sheriffs under control? Remove ALL state funds and benefits from them and let them rely solely on ANNUAL appropriations from their respective Parishes.
See the fourth paragraph.
That’s what I’m talking about. They make it they take it and State ain’t got nair business messing with none of it like I say before.
Then when you figure in the fortune these Sheriff’s are making off of the Prison money scam they’re all with kick-backs off of inmate phone use, Prison Store money, ect. ect….These Sheriff’s have cash rolling in like a tidal wave. The entire lot of Louisiana’s Sheriff’s should all be inmates in Angola for the scam their all running in their Parish Prisons ! Shame on them all !!!!!