[StBernard] Shrink St. Bernard Parish government before seeking large increase in fees: An editorial

[Westley Annis]

Shrink St. Bernard Parish government before seeking large increase in fees:
An editorial

Published: Sunday, August 12, 2012, 7:23 AM

 By Editorial page staff, The Times-Picayune 

St. Bernard Parish's devastation after Hurricane Katrina forced a major
transformation in the community, reflected in its reduced population. Almost
seven years after the disaster, the parish has about 40,000 residents,
compared with 67,000 before the storm.

Yet government officials haven't reduced the parish's bureaucracy to a size
St. Bernard residents can afford. Instead, the administration of Parish
President Dave Peralta and Parish Council members are now considering a
hefty increase in fees that would add roughly $330 per year to the average
water bill in St. Bernard.

That represents too heavy a burden for parish residents. Before considering
any increase in fees, let alone one as high as the one the administration is
proposing, officials should shrink a bloated parish bureaucracy that's
causing St. Bernard's fiscal problems.

The council last week introduced an ordinance proposing the increase of
several service fees, including fire protection, recreation, public works,
mosquito control and road lighting, among others. The proposal, which the
council may vote on as early as Aug. 21, would raise monthly water bills by
a combined $27.51 per month.

The administration argued that the increase is needed to maintain services
and to limit to 92 the number of workers the parish would need to lay off
this year in the face of depressed sales tax revenues. Without any fee
increases, officials said, the parish may need to lay off as many as 174
employees, or more than a third of its workforce.

Raising service fees by more than $27 a month per household would be a major
increase in any community. It would be especially harsh in a parish where
many residents live on a fixed income and where most homeowners face a
higher cost of living post-Katrina because of higher insurance premiums.

Outrageously, Mr. Peralta's administration wanted to reach even deeper into
the pockets of residents. One of the options he suggested to the Parish
Council would have raised service fees by a jaw-dropping $55 per month, a
figure officials said would prevent any government layoffs for the remainder
of the year. Council members rightly dismissed that amount as too high. But
the $27 a month they're considering now is still high.

Officials should first focus on addressing the root causes of the parish's
fiscal crisis, by reducing the size of government. While St. Bernard's
population remains 40 percent below pre-Katrina levels, the parish
government employs 460 people, only 13 percent less than when the storm hit.
Officials in the past have cited the need to administer the recovery as a
reason to keep almost the same number of workers, and no doubt the parish's
needs remain substantial. But only 18 government jobs are paid through
recovery-related grants, while salary and benefits for other employees eat
up the biggest chunk of the budget. St. Bernard's smaller tax base just
can't afford this.

Some council members are suggesting the fees should be put on the ballot so
voters can have the final say, and that's appropriate for a fee jump this
large. The Parish Council also needs to hold several hearings on this
matter, not merely the single hearing it has scheduled for Aug. 21, when
they can first vote on the matter.

This size of this proposed increase, and the parish's unsustainable
bureaucracy, warrant a broader public debate. Some of these fees have not
changed in several years, and there may be a case for a modest increase for
some of them. But officials must prove first that they have done everything
they can to avoid any increases. So far, they haven't made that case.

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