[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish Council to hold budget hearings for cash-strapped parish

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard Parish Council to hold budget hearings for cash-strapped parish
 By Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune 
on November 01, 2012 at 6:01 PM, updated November 01, 2012 at 8:40 PM Email

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For the first time since the St. Bernard Parish government proposed its
dramatically reduced 2013 budget, the St. Bernard Parish Council on Saturday
will extensively review it and question about 20 department officials on its
ins and outs. The proposed budget includes about $12 million in cuts in the
general fund and key departments, and comes off a tumultuous financial year
during which St. Bernard government already has made many layoffs and
instituted fees on residents.

The proposed 2013 budget, which must be adopted in December, anticipates
about $26 million in expenses and about $27 million in revenue in the parish
general fund and other key departments controlled by the parish government
and Parish Council. That's compared to 2012, where about $38.5 million is
anticipated to have been spent in the general fund and on key departments,
and only about $31 million is anticipated in revenue.

This year, in order to bridge the gap between expenses and revenues, the
parish will have had to take out about $7.5 million from its general fund,
according to recent parish government projections. That is anticipated to
leave the parish with as little as $200,000 in its general fund balance,
often known as the parish's rainy day fund.

The proposed 2013 budget includes 149 personnel cuts, including 79
eliminated fire department positions that would require closing half of the
parish's fire stations, according to the parish breakdown.

The Parish Council will hold the budget hearing from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday in Council Chambers, 8201 W. Judge Perez Drive, Chalmette. It will
be split into about 20 segments during which the council can discuss
individual budgets with various parish departments. Half of the departments
will come in front of the Parish Council on Saturday, and the remaining
departments will come in front of the parish next Saturday, Nov. 10, in a
similar, segmented manner.


St. Bernard Parish Council Chambers
Ben Alexander-Bloch

>From 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Council Chairman Guy McInnis and

Councilman Richie Lewis, chair of the Executive Finance Committee, are
hosting town hall meetings in the Council Chambers to discuss the proposed
2013 budget before the Saturday hearings.

The proposed 2013 budget is based on two Dec. 8 ballot not passing: 20 mills
for fire services, and a freeing up of the half-cent sanitation sales tax.

The two ballot measures could generate millions of dollars for the
cash-strapped parish but, at least the fire millage, would place an added
burden on parish taxpayers. That 20-mill tax would add about $90 -- or about
$7.50 a month -- to the annual tax bill of a $120,000 home that qualifies
for a homestead exemption (that's the average price of a home in the
parish). It would add about $250 a year, or $20.83 a month, to the tax bill
of a $200,000 home.

All told, the 20 mills would bring in about $6 million for fire services,
while the rededication of the parish's sanitation sales tax could allow the
parish to use some or all of 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.

If the half-cent rededication is passed by voters and if the parish can find
ways to reduce the costs of its garbage services, then the parish could use
remaining funds from that tax for other parish expenses. Additionally, if
the parish could institute a garbage fee, the parish then could use most of
that half-cent tax for other parish departments. But, 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
and 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 the monthly fee is
unconstitutional and has asked for an injunction. Depending on the outcome
of that suit -- and likely its appeals -- the parish might have to return
the collected fees. The judgment also might set a precedent as to whether
the parish can impose similar fees in the future.

Earlier this year, the parish eliminated about 60 positions -- while about
95 employees resigned, retired or were fired, it hired about 35 new
employees. Those employee reductions saved the parish about $1.6 million,
according to parish reports earlier this year.

The schedule for the Saturday budget hearing is as follows:


Water and Sewer            




8 a.m. - 8:30 a.m.

Council




8:30 a.m.- 9 a.m.

Community Development




9 a.m. - 9:20 a.m.

Transit




9:20 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.

Housing




9:30 a.m. - 9:40 a.m.

Animal Control




9:40 a.m. - 10 a.m.

Cable




10:00 a.m. - 10:20 a.m.

Office of Emergency Preparedness




10:20 a.m. - 10:40 a.m.

Legal




10:40 a.m. - 11:20 a.m.

Office of Motor Vehicles




11:20 a.m. - 11:40 a.m.

Registrar of Voters




11:40 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Lunch 




12 p.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Purchasing




12:30 p.m. - 12:50 p.m.

Tourism




12:50 p.m. - 1:20 p.m.

Grants




1:20 p.m. - 1:40 p.m.

Personnel




1:40 p.m. - 2 p.m.

Jail




2 p.m. - 2:15 p.m

Council on Aging




2:15 p.m - 2:30 p.m.

IT




2:30 p.m. - 3 p.m.

Resident Services




3 p.m. - 3:30 p.m

Recovery




3:30 p.m. - 4 p.m.

Fire




4 p.m. - 5 p.m.