[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish Council to vote on amendments to 2013 budget

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard Parish Council to vote on amendments to 2013 budget
 By Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune 
on January 07, 2013 at 5:38 PM, updated January 07, 2013 at 5:41 PM Print

The administration of St. Bernard Parish President David Peralta has
submitted several amendments to the 2013 budget passed that the Parish
Council adopted last month. The Parish Council will vote on whether to
introduce proposed amendments at its 7 p.m. Tuesday council meeting.

According to the parish government's calculations, the adopted 2013 budget
placed the parish's general fund balance in a $78,500 hole at the end of
2013, but the various parish government amendments will bring that general
fund back to into the black by about $157,000. The administration's budget
amendments also propose an additional $930,000 in fire department spending.

The fire department's budget has been the council and parish
administration's primary financial talking point the past six months.
Leading up to the December referendum for  an additional 20-mill fire tax,
Peralta had threatened 79 firefighter cuts if that millage hadn't passed.

Voters approved that millage, which parish government anticipates will
generate about $6.5 million this year - more than the $6 million estimated
in the proposed millage's ballot language itself.

But the council, pointing to the administration's new $6.5 million estimate,
coupled with a $1.75 million federal grant the Fire Department will receive
this year, has questioned if the full 20 mills should be levied. 

Along with the about $2.4 million the parish also anticipates receiving from
an 8-mill tax already in place for the fire department, the fire department
could receive as much as about $10.73 million if it levied the full 20
mills.

Initially, that is what the parish administration had proposed before the
council's Dec. 14 vote to adopt the budget. With about $9.23 million in
anticipated fire department expenses, that would have filtered about $1.5
million into the fire department's fund balance.

Instead, though the council passed a budget that only funded the fire
department at its levels from last year - about $8 million.

The administration's amendments would provide the fire department with about
$10 million in revenue and about $9 million in anticipated expenses.

In terms of the changes to the parish's overall general fund balance at the
end of 2013, the parish administration in part proposes cutting Parish
Council personnel expenses, personnel and operating expenses in the public
works department, and personnel expenses in the recreation department, among
other cuts.

The proposed budget amendments provided by the parish administration did not
provide details explaining where and how those cuts would be made in each
department, and parish government officials on Monday did not immediately
return requests for more detailed information.