A day after news broke that the Ville Platte Police Department made cuts to its budget which involved the cutting of 11 positions, Mayor Jennifer Vidrine and several members of the city council shed light Wednesday on the reasons why the cuts had to be made.
According to Mayor Vidrine, the police department’s budget has grown to $2.4 million. Evidence received from City Hall shows the police’s budget was under $1.5 million in 2008. The budget remained steady for the next two years before spiking in 2011 to above $1.5 million. Since then, it has continued to rise to its current level which includes salaries for 43 employees.
“We’re decreasing in population in Ville Platte, but we’re increasing our budget by giving the police department more money,” said Councilman Bryant Riggs. “Just honestly, I haven’t seen where is the return on investment.”
To that point, Councilman Mike Perron said, “We want the people to know the reason we kept giving and giving money is because we wanted to protect our citizens. We gave whatever the chief needed. We don’t want to put our citizens in jeopardy, so we continue to help as much as we need. But, it got to where it’s more than we could afford.
The mayor said, “The budget has to be restructured and budget cuts have to be made for us to operate efficiently and also expeditiously as far as the citizens are concerned.”
Most of the positions cut involved two janitors and several officers waiting to enter the academy. “None of them were patrolmen,” the mayor said. “The cuts that were made will not affect any of the patrolling services or the protective services to the people of Ville Platte, and we’re happy about that.”
She continued, “We want to convey to our citizens our police services are still here. They’re still intact. The budget cuts did not impact the services that will be provided to the people of Ville Platte. They will be secure, they will be safe, and there will be quick response time. None of those services will be affected.”
“We as a city council and the mayor will never put the city in jeopardy and jeopardize safety for making unnecessary budget cuts,” Councilman Riggs said, “but this is necessary.”
Part of the restructuring besides the cutting of the positions included streamlining the excessive overtime and time-and-a-half. The mayor said, “A lot of that will be cut as well. And, again, that will streamline the budget. More monies will be going to patrolling. More monies will be going to the police presence in the community, and that is our main goal to make sure our people are protected.”
As for the restructuring, Councilman Riggs commented the police department can now add more patrolmen. “We have four detectives in the city,” he said. “Opelousas has five detectives. I don’t think we need four detectives in Ville Platte. You could take two of those officers and make them patrol. We have two patrol officers working straight days. They need to go on a rotation. That will put more patrol at night.”
The city officials also debunked several of the rumors circulating around the city.
“I just want the people to realize we’re here to help everybody and not to believe the rumors they hear in town,” said Councilwoman Faye Lemoine. “Some people just like to cause problems instead of trying to be part of the solution.”
Councilman Lionel Anderson agreed, “We were elected and came here to try to help the system not to destroy it. I don’t like the rumors. We need to get the facts out to everybody to understand what’s really going on.”
According to Councilwoman Lemoine, one of the rumors is that the city is broke. To that point, Mayor Vidrine said, “That’s not the reason for the cuts. We did a survey of 10 municipalities the same size or similar, and nobody has a $2.4 million budget for the police department. And no one has over 40 on staff.”
Another rumor going around town is that the police cuts are tied with the recent news the city is raising its utility rates. “The rates are going up because we have a bond covenant,” explained the mayor. “We have to comply with the bond covenant. It is the law that the rates have to be adjusted.”
“We’re not allowed to get any more grants for anything that has to do with the utility system if our rates are not increased and if our system doesn’t show it can sustain itself,” she continued. “Rates in Ville Platte have not been raised in over 15 years. People need to know how cheap our rates are. Our flat rate is $10.50 for the first 2,000 gallons. That’s low.”
Councilman Perron invited the public to attend the city council meetings to ask questions instead of listening to everybody else and believing what is seen on social media.
Similarly, Councilman Riggs proposed having a public forum on the cuts and other issues regarding the city.
Mayor Vidrine also conveyed that she and the council are not clashing with Chief Neal Lartigue. “We are working together on the restructuring of the police department’s budget,” she expressed.
She concluded, “The budget was top heavy. For us to operate efficiently, we just needed to streamline the budget but not take away for the services we are giving to the people of Ville Platte.”
July 29, 2026
