[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish to hold three meetings on proposed 2013 budget

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard Parish to hold three meetings on proposed 2013 budget
 By Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune 
on October 26, 2012 at 6:00 PM, updated October 26, 2012 at 8:18 PM Email |
Print

St. Bernard Parish Council members next week will hold three town hall
meetings to discuss a proposed 2013 budget that will depend heavily on two
Dec. 8 ballot measures and the outcome of a pending court case. The meetings
are scheduled for 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday and Friday in the
Council Chambers, 8201 W. Judge Perez Drive, Chalmette.

The two Dec. 8 ballot proposals -- 20 mills for fire services, and a freeing
up of the 1/2 cent sanitation sales tax -- could generate millions of
dollars for the cash-strapped parish. The 20 mills would bring in about $6
million for fire services, while the rededication of the parish's sanitation
sales tax would allow the parish to use  the roughly $3.3 million a year
from the half-cent tax for other parish services such as community
development, recreation, public works, mosquito control and road lighting.

But, that rededication of the sanitation tax only would work if the parish
could instead begin charging residents for garbage services. And whether or
not the parish can charge residents a fee for parish services is now a
pending question in the local courts.

In August, the Parish Council passed a $32 fee to cover Fire Department
operations -- which parish officials say is the largest drain on the parish
budget, operating at a $5.5 million annual loss. The fee began in September
last month and only will continue through December. It is anticipated to
bring in between $1.5 million and $2 million for those four months.

But a lawsuit filed by Peter Rupp, an Arabi resident who lost a runoff for a
Parish Council seat by 16 votes last fall, alleges that monthly fee is
unconstitutional and has asked for an injunction. Depending on the outcome
of that suit - and likely its multiple appeals - the parish might have to
return the collected fees and the judgment also might set a precedent as to
whether the parish can impose similar fees in the future.

The Parish Council is expected to adopt a 2013 budget at its 7 p.m. Dec. 4
council meeting.

The parish administration has said that the current deficits largely are due
to decreasing sales tax revenue in part due to an end to disaster recovery
work -- from Hurricane Katrina to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill -- that
brought a flood of work into the parish and thus increased sales at local
business.

The original 2012 budget passed by the Parish Council last year initially
predicted about $21 million sales tax revenue whereas current predictions
are $15 million. Next month, the Parish Council will address additional
proposed cuts for the current year that likely will help define the hole for
the coming year.

At its last meeting, on Oct. 16, the Parish Council passed an ordinance
allowing the parish to take out a $5 million bond in case the parish needs
to fill any budget holes by year's end. Last week, the state bond commission
agreed to give the parish $3 million of "Revenue Anticipation Notes in order
for the Parish to maintain operations, with the remaining $2,000,000
contingent upon receipt and verification of the Parish Council budget for
fiscal year ending December 31, 2013," according to the Bond Commission's
Oct. 18 meeting's minutes.