Avoyelles Police Jury concerned about General Fund deficit

   Most of the surplus is in the Solid Waste Fund, and a new contract that costs about $250,000 a year more will take a big bite out of that in 2017, Police Jury President Charles Jones said.

  The jury held public hearings and approved its operating budget and those of the District Attorney’s Office and Ward 2/Marksville City Court this past Tuesday. 

  At the committee meeting on Dec. 8, jurors were told that overall it has done a good job of keeping expenses in line with revenues. In departments such as the Permit Office, where revenues took a plunge, the jury was able to reduce expenditures to avoid a deficit.

  Jurors discussed budget concerns, but did not directly address the road districts’ taxes that were on this past Saturday’s ballot. The election occurred after the meeting. Three out of four districts defeated their proposed road maintenance taxes.

   A target was drawn around the bridge repair program, which Jones said may have to be discontinued so maintenance employees can focus on roads and drainage concerns.

  “We have to inspect the bridges,” Jones said. “That is required by law. But other parishes contract for bridge repair projects instead of doing it in-house.”

  Jones said putting bridge crew employees on road maintenance projects might enable the parish to use both pothole patchers for paved roads and possibly add one or two graders to address the gravel roads.

  “We will have to take a serious look at the budget at mid-year,” Jones said, “especially in the General Fund. If at mid-year we see that we are in a squeeze, we may have to consider a bridge contract program.”

 

General Fund deficit

   The General Fund will apparently end the year with a small deficit over what was budgeted. However, the deficit can be covered by surpluses in other funds, such as Road & Bridge, Drainage or Solid Waste.

  State law allows the budget to be off by up to 5 percent. The General Fund came dangerously close to that threshold this year, but a late-year franchise check reduced the deficit to within an acceptable range.

   Jones said the jury cannot run that risk again. He said the mid-year budget review has to be taken seriously and necessary actions taken to ensure the budget stays in line.

  The jury has set a goal of 34 employees during the next budget year. It currently has 37. Jones said the parish does not plan to lay off employees, but such action might be necessary if revenues are lagging behind expenses in June.

  The “employee cap” does not include a civil works director, which the Police Jury still plans to hire to run the Parish Barn operations.

  Although it may sound counter-productive to add an administrative position while facing budget-cutting decisions, jurors believe the new director will improve efficiency in the road, bridge and drainage maintenance operations. 

   They have also raised the hope that the director would be able to seek and secure public works grants from state, federal and private sources.

 

City Court issue

   Juror Henry Moreau raised the issue of the Ward 2/ Marksville City Court budget,  saying it is “a burr under my saddle.”

  Judge Angelo Piazza III submitted a $204,000 budget. The Police Jury is required to pay half of the court’s operating costs. Moreau pointed out two relatively minor expenditures which he said require additional explanation before he would vote for the jury to pay half of their cost.

  He said the court asks for $6,000 for continuing education for court employees. Jones said the training is in Florida.

  “Why can’t they do that training online right here,” Moreau asked.

  Moreau also questioned another $6,000 for “Louisiana Law Code.” Jones said that is for a subscription to obtain the latest revisions to state law.

 “I want a breakdown on all of these individual categories with an explanation as to why they are necessary,” Moreau said.

  The court's budget was approved at the Dec. 13 meeting with only brief discussion. 

 Jones said Marksville city officials have approached him with a request for negotiations early next year that could lead to a return of the previous agreement between the city and parish concerning the court’s funding.

  “Everybody was happy the way it was,” Jones said. 

  “None of this would be going on if it hadn’t changed,” Juror Mark Borrel added.

  The state law that created the ward/city court requires the two governments equally share the cost of the court, but does allow for the two bodies to alter that funding by mutual consent. 

  Fines collected by the court can be returned to the parish if the offense is tried as a violation of state law and can be given to the city if the offense is tried as a violation of a city ordinance. The city has adopted the state statutes, so a misdemeanor or traffic offense heard in Ward/City Court can be considered either a state or municipal violation.

  When Marksville withdrew the previous agreement, under which the city paid most of the court’s operating expenses in exchange for all of the fines, the Police Jury instructed the DA’s Office to prosecute all cases possible as state crimes, thus sending almost all of the fines to the Police Jury.

   Despite that end-run maneuver -- which still has city officials fuming -- the Police Jury is spending about $60,000 more than it is receiving in fines.

  Jones pointed out that under the previous arrangement, the jury paid about $18,000 toward the court’s operations but received no fines, so the change in the funding arrangement has cost the jury $42,000.

  Jones said he is feeling optimistic that the parish and city can return to an agreement at least similar to the one in place at the beginning of last year.

  If the parish and city cannot resolve the issue to the jury’s satisfaction, Jones said he will recommend that legislation be filed to separate the Ward 2 and Marksville City Court, thus eliminating the hybrid that requires the two local governments to cooperate in funding the court’s operation.