What to do if the state says ‘Yes’?

Remember when you piled your plate high with all of those good things to eat and your mama told you, “Your eyes are bigger than your stomach.”

Well, the Avoyelles Parish Police Jury is staring at a full plate of goodies but facing the prospect they might have to leave most of them on the plate.

The Police Jury has submitted several projects for state capital improvement grants. A few have been funded and they are hopeful about a few others.

The parish has received state funds for improvements to the Avoyelles Council on Aging property. That project will begin construction soon and will cost less than $200,000.

The Police Jury will be spending the last portion of an almost $1 million state grant for Phase III of its three-year 9-road parish road improvement project that has been underway for the past two years.

Still awaiting a decision from the state are requests for grants for improvements to nine more parish roads ($1.5 million); renovations and improvements to the LSU AgCenter in Mansura, including construction of a new multi-purpose educational facility ($3,185,600); improvements to the now-vacant 4th Floor of the courthouse ($618,480); drainage improvements associated with the Acadiana Center for Youth in Bunkie ($408,000); paving the slopes of Bayou Lacombe to address recurring drainage problems ($1.5 million); Little River/Boggy Bayou dredging in the Spring Bayou complex ($276,000); and a request to improve Tricia Park subdivision’s streets and sewer system ($408,000).

That is a total of of almost $8 million in requests.

LACKS MATCHING FUNDS

Unfortunately, these grants require the recipient to put up 25 percent of the state’s amount.

“We do not have the funds to meet the 25 percent match, if they all got through,” Police Jury President Kirby Roy said. “Either the projects will get canceled, delayed or we can possibly go into different phases, as we did with our road improvements -- three phases over three years.”

If a fairy godmother granted all of the Police Jury’s wishes, the parish would need to put up $2 million to get the $8 million.

Roy said the Police Jury’s priority should be on road improvements and addressing the pressing need to upgrade the courthouse and courtrooms.

“The Council on Aging project has been funded and has started,” Roy said. “That will involve repaving the parking lot, knocking down an old building and putting up a new metal one.”

Phase III of the jury’s first 9-road grant-funded project has also begun. The last two of the nine roads -- Rabbit Lane in Bayhills and Isaac Brouillette Lane in the Hickory Hill community -- have also begun.

If the requested 9-road project is funded, it would probably also be divided into three annual phases so the parish could break up its matching fund obligation.

The proposed renovation of the second and third floors of the courthouse that Roy mentioned could be locally-funded or added to the state wish list.

That project would cost between $2.5-3 million as currently envisioned, but could easily double that price tag if all issues in the 92-year-old building were addressed.

The two leading proposals for finding the money to create a more modern and user-friendly courtroom complex in the courthouse are a 1/2-cent sales tax that would be collected for only two years and asking the state for the money.

LOCALLY FUNDED

In addition to those capital improvement grant requests, the jury is also looking at two locally-funded projects that would make “cleaning their plate” even tougher.

One is the improvements to the Parish Barn and its solid waste operations.

Phase I, which includes work on the barn building itself and improvements to the waste storage and dump sites, has been approved. Bids on the contract for the project -- tentatively budgeted at $2.5 million -- should be received next month. Work will begin soon afterward.

The project will be funded out of the Solid Waste Fund’s accumulated reserve.

The so-called “One Stop Shop,” or the Parish Services Building, is also moving forward.

At its Feb. 11 meeting, the Police Jury accepted five sales offers of property around the courthouse. Jurors will tour the buildings to determine which one best suits the parish’s needs.

The prices range from $150,000 to $570,699, but are of varying sizes.

The proposed annex would house various parish programs now located in the courthouse that would be displaced if the Police Jury undertakes major renovations to enlarge the courtrooms on the 3rd floor and relocate the judges’ offices to the 2nd floor.

At this time, the funding plan calls for using proceeds from the Permit Office to pay for the project.

The One Stop Shop may or may not include creating a new courtroom in the event the parish is given an additional judgeship. A case load survey indicates the parish might qualify for a third district judge.

USING RESERVES

Police jurors have noted in the past that it’s four major operating funds -- General Fund, Road & Bridge, Drainage and Solid Waste -- have built up small cushions over the years because the parish would never end the year with a deficit in those accounts.

The General Fund has had to be bailed out by reserve funds for the past few years because the tax revenues it receives have not kept up with new obligations and inflation on the cost to provide the services relying on that operating fund.

Those reserves can legally be used for one-time expenditures and for emergency funding.

Reserves can’t be used to fund a recurring expense -- such as to give employees a raise with the reserves for one year in hopes there would be enough income in future years to cover the higher salaries.

The Police Jury reserves are not quite as large as the jury’s auditor has indicated they should be. Reserves in accounts other than the four major operating accounts cannot be used for general operating costs.

The auditor has said reserves should be large enough to meet the Police Jury’s financial requirements for about eight months, just in case of a catastrophic decline in tax revenues.