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Baker Police Chief-elect wants a pay raise
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BATON ROUGE – The city of Baker's new police chief is asking for a pay raise. Police Chief-elect Carl Dunn says that his political opponents are trying to drive him out of office with his current pay.
"My opponent's campaign manager was allowed to reduce the salary to make it undesirable with me, hoping I wouldn't want the job with the salary they're offering," Dunn said.
Dunn said that outgoing Police Chief Mike Knaps supported his opponent in the election and cut the position's salary out of spite.
Knapps says the allegations are completely untrue.
"Chief-elect Dunn is a brand new employee for the city of Baker. He starts at the beginning pay for the chief of police just like any officer starts at the beginning of their scale if they're new here," Knaps said.
KnapS says that he has no control over pay and that the pay scale was decided years ago. He stated that Dunn should have known about it when he ran for office.
Mayor Harold Rideau says that it is against the law to get a raise after getting elected.
"State law says you have to do it six months before the actual election," Rideau said.
Rideau said that a pay raise is not in the budget and that if a pay raise is granted by the city council, cuts will have to be made elsewhere which could effect pay raises for city employees.
Dunn says that he just wants what he is due.
"You want to start me off where my sergeants, lieutenants, captains and assistant chiefs will be making considerably more than what I'm making now," Dunn said.
The ordinance was introduced at the Baker City Council meeting Tuesday night and will be discussed at the next meeting.
The mayor also told News 2 he's asking for the Attorney General's opinion on the issue.
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