In a time where fire departments across the country are trying to do more with less, the New Iberia Fire Department is proposing a tax that officials hope will keep the local fire department competitive with other departments in Acadiana. 

The proposition that will be up for vote on March 29 will ask New Iberia residents to approve a quarter-cent sales tax that will only be used to pay for salaries and benefits for the personnel at the New Iberia Fire Department. 

The proposition will be one of three local taxing bodies that are asking the public for more taxes on the election. Iberia Parish Fire District No. 1, which serves all of Iberia Parish, will also be asking for a tax increase along with the Iberia Parish Library System, which is asking for a renewal of its parish millage after it was voted down last year. 

The New Iberia fire tax is unique among the three because it is only asking for their tax for salaries and benefits for personnel, similar to the tax Iberia Parish Sheriff Tommy Romero asked for last year in an effort to try to remain competitive with neighboring police departments. 

New Iberia firefighters are hoping the tax passes the same way the Sheriff’s Office passed, and for similar reasons. 

Chief Gordon Coppel said a firefighter at his department starts at $10.72 an hour, a rate that has stayed the same since 2003. With other departments starting in the range of $13-14 an hour, the NIFD loses the chance to entice a new generation of firefighters for the city. 

Although firefighters do get a 2% cost of living adjustment yearly and state supplemental pay, the NIFD contends that it barely makes a difference in the face of rising living costs. 

The department maintains it has lost more than a dozen members in the last two years to other fire departments, and filling those positions has become nearly impossible. 

“We used to have a full stack of applications, but now we can’t fill up these spots,” Coppell said. 

According to its social media page, the NIFD sees the tax as a large resort in order to keep the department afloat and fill the necessary positions to continue to do its job in the city. 

Early voting for the March 29 ballot ends Saturday.