🏛️ Parish Eyes Surplus as Jury Considers New Capital Oversight Approach

Avoyelles Parish Courthouse in Marksville, LA

The Avoyelles Parish Police Jury heard positive financial news at its Oct. 9 Executive Committee meeting, where members also discussed how to improve oversight on parish capital spending.

📊 Strong Financial Performance

Finance Director Jamie Wiley reported strong revenues and conservative spending across departments.

The General Fund is up 3.1 percent
The Health Unit 17.4 percent
The Library 10.8 percent
The Permit Office 19.3 percent

Only Road and Bridge and Solid Waste are below targets, both expected to recover before the end of the year.

💵 Expenditures Remain Low

Expenditures remain below budget across all departments.

Road and Bridge is 41 percent under plan
Solid Waste 27 percent
Drainage 30 percent

The parish is on pace for a potential year-end surplus if the trend continues.

🛠️ Capital Projects Oversight Proposed

Juror Travis Franks suggested creating a Capital Projects Oversight Committee to review large projects and engineering contracts before final approval.

The discussion follows questions about how some capital outlay funds have been handled in recent years and whether all expenditures received full jury approval.

🗣️ Darrell Wiley on the Proposal

President Darrell Wiley said he supports placing the proposal before the full jury for discussion.

“I said it may be a solution to some of our issues,” Wiley said. “It could be a good idea, but that will be for the jury to decide.”

Wiley emphasized that he did not advocate for or against creating the committee.

📄 Additional Business

Two resolutions involving Pan-American Engineers were tabled pending that discussion.
The jury also reviewed a single $450,000 bid for the parish’s green waste pit from Kerry Morrow.
Three cooperative agreements for state-funded road projects were also reviewed:
- Bordelon-Lemoine Road
- Riche Road
- Business Loop

✅ Commitment to Fiscal Responsibility

Jurors said the financial gains and proposed oversight measures reflect a parish committed to both fiscal responsibilityand greater transparency in how public funds are used.

🗣️ Quote by Darrell Wiley