Avoyelles Police Jury 2019 budget projects less revenue, higher costs

Three of four major accounts could dip into reserves

It is all-too-true that the Avoyelles Police Jury could certainly spend any amount of additional money it might receive to improve its infrastructure of roads, bridges and drainage canals. It is an equally true statement that the parish governing board must operate within the resources it DOES receive.

The Police Jury adopted its 2019 budget at its Dec. 11 meeting. The new spending plan does not foretell disaster, but does reflect declining tax revenue at the same time inflation is causing some costs to increase.

The result is four out of five “major” funds are unable to pay for their services with the revenues dedicated to the services they provide.

Due to years where revenues exceeded costs, the parish would be able to meet its spending plan by dipping into the funds’ accumulated reserve.

However, the jury has been cautioned that it needs several months’ worth of operating capital in reserve to be considered fiscally secure.

Police Jury President Charles Jones has noted several times during budget discussions that the jury has the legal right to “move funds around” among some of its accounts. Others, such as the Library Fund, HUD, Health Unit, etc., are funded by specific taxes and cannot be mingled with the jury’s general revenues.

GENERAL FUND

The General Fund needed a little help from the reserve, but is expected to end 2019 with a $4,401 surplus.

The General Fund is expected to receive $1,724,470 -- down from the 2018 total of $1,986,626. Expenses will be $1,720,069 compared to $1,918,501.

The reduced “revenue” for the General Fund is due to a much less “reimbursement” needed -- $82,000 instead of $281,328.

The reduced costs for 2019 includes $110,592 in miscellaneous “General/Administrative” expenses. This category of the General Fund is for costs not covered by other departments -- such as legal settlements.

The Police Jury anticipates spending over $18,000 less in legal costs. The figures also reflect paying off a debt to FEMA that saves $30,500 and not having a $37,680 grant that was noted in the income and expense figures.

There are some line items that will be more expensive than this year.

SOLID WASTE

The Solid Waste Fund has been the picture of health in past years, but has been declining in health in the past few years. It avoided a major setback when voters renewed the 1-cent sales tax -- 3/4 of which goes to solid waste management and 1/4 to parishwide road and bridge maintenance.

Solid Waste received $3,246,105 in 2018 but is projected to receive only $3,021,500 in 2019 due to an anticipated decline in sales tax revenues. The account spent $2,911,223 in 2018, ending the year with a $334,882 surplus -- about enough to cover 1 1/2 months of the garbage service.

The budget plans for the parishwide solid waste program to cost $2,962,716 next year. If the revenue projection holds true, the account will end 2019 with an anemic $58,784 annual surplus. However, the fund has an accumulated reserve of over $5.2 million.

ROAD/BRIDGE, DRAINAGE

The Road and Bridge Fund received $1,594,609 in revenue in 2018 and is expected to receive $1,521,800 in 2019. It is expecting the 1/4-cent sales tax on motor vehicles to stay about the same but is projecting a $35,000 decline in other sales tax receipts for the roads. It is also expecting $42,000 less from the state for the Parish Transportation Fund.

While revenues are expected to decrease, costs will rise slightly -- from $1,542,387 in 2018 to $1,575,038 in 2019.

That means the fund will join the General Fund in running a deficit if things don’t change before the end of the budget year.

The Drainage Fund is anticipating tax revenues to decline from $531,220 to $471,000 while expenses will increase from $483,806 to $491,400. This would also put this fund in a slight deficit, requiring a dip into its $1.7 million accumulated reserve.

Those small deficits would be erased if tax revenues perform better than projected.

TRICIA PARK, CITY COURT

There are two relatively small accounts that have attracted attention in the past year that have their own separate budgets for 2019.

Tricia Park subdivision -- an unincorporated area the Police Jury somehow obtained responsibility for -- had $1,713 in revenue and cost the jury $2,481 in 2018.

Jurors decided to raise the sewer fees for Tricia Park residents to enable the parish to cover its costs and build up a reserve to pay for future equipment repairs.

The new budget projects $5,700 in revenue and about $2,500 in expenses, allowing the jury to put $2,500 into a reserve.

Another lightning rod for discussion, both at the courthouse and Marksville City Hall, is the Ward 2/Marksville City Court.

The Police Jury received $33,884 in fines from the court, but it paid $102,250 for a $68,365 deficit that was covered by shuffling reserve funds from one of the jury’s operating accounts.

The City of Marksville pays half of the court’s operating costs and the Police Jury pays half. However, most of the court’s fines are sent to the Police Jury because the District Attorney’s Office prosecutes offenses under state statutes rather than city ordinances.

The City Council has threatened to hire a city prosecutor to handle traffic tickets and misdemeanor arrests made by Marksville police officers.

Some police jurors have threatened to push for the Legislature to break-up the ward/city court it created decades ago, reverting to a Marksville City Court and a Ward 2 Justice of the Peace Court.

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