[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish Council approves 2011 budget

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard Parish Council approves 2011 budget

Published: Wednesday, December 08, 2010, 3:17 PM     Updated: Wednesday,
December 08, 2010, 7:01 PM

 Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, The Times-Picayune 

The St. Bernard Parish Council this week approved a 2011 budget that
anticipates operating expenses increasing by about $3.2 million and
exceeding revenue by about $3.69 million.

The 2011 operating budget has St. Bernard Parish spending $51.14 million,
but only generating about $47.44 million. Therefore the budget projects the
operating fund balance to shrink from about $4.65 million this year to
$406,597 by the end of next, which includes $549,500 taken from the fund for
debt services and capital expenses.

Yet acting Finance Director John Frank and Parish President Craig Taffaro
say sales tax revenue and small decreases "line item by line item"
throughout the year will lead to a balanced budget by the end of 2011.

While the original 2010 operating budget had anticipated only $11.73 million
in sales tax revenue, the parish ended up in fact receiving about $18.51
million. Frank says the Wal-Mart that opened in February, along with the
Lowe's and several other businesses and the parish's general "coming back"
from Hurricane Katrina, led to an unexpected sales tax revenue increase.

That increase allowed the parish to allocate $3.7 million in sales tax
revenue this year - money saved in part because departmental cuts were found
elsewhere - to help balance the 2010 operating budget and not dip its fund
into negatives in 2011. Without that boost, the operating fund balance would
have shrunken from about $4 million to about $1 million.

Meanwhile, the 2011 operating budget anticipates the parish will receive
about $19.76 million in sales tax revenue. And as the parish has not yet
received October, November or December sales tax, the current year numbers
may exceed expectations in part due to Christmas shopping at the new
Wal-Mart. Any additional sales tax money from this year could then be
transferred to the 2011 budget.

The 2011 major budget line items are the fire, housing and redevelopment,
public works and sanitation departments.

And compared with 2010, the 2011 budget shows about $1.36 million more in
expenses for the public works department, $460,000 more for the fire
department, $200,000 more allocated for community development and $250,000
more for recreation.

While about $900,000 in the public works increases comes from a project to
clean out sediment in canals, most of the rest stems from increases in
departments' salary allocations.

Taffaro said most of the increases in salary comes from new personnel being
transferred into departments. The budget also includes a 2-percent cost of
living increase for all employees next year.

Meanwhile, the parish's total fund balance, which includes capital projects,
debt service funds and the water and sewer division, is projected to drop
dramatically this year as the parish anticipates completing several capital
projects.

Its capital project expenses will exceed incoming revenue by about $13.36
million, shrinking its capital project fund balance to $17.65 million.

It anticipates draining its $10.7 FEMA fund reserve, only receiving about
$82.74 million from FEMA while spending about $93.48 million.

The other major losses are projected to stem for the water and sewer
division, where several projects are expected to come to fruition, with its
fund balance expected to drop from about $43.6 million to $30.2 million.

The parish total fund balance therefore is expected to dip $31.3 million,
from about $81.2 million to $49.9 million next year.

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