Lafourche council amends, approves $55M budget

After the lengthy process of earmarking funds for specific projects, the Lafourche Parish Council last week approved a $54.9 million spending plan for 2013.

The council proposed 37 amendments to the budget. None failed to garner less than six votes – the super-majority required to overturn a potential veto – but 11 were pulled from the floor prior to the call for vote.

“I’ve never really seen this done before, to this magnitude,” said Councilman Aaron Caillouet, a former parish president. “I just think this is overkill.”

Caillouet voted against all but five budget amendments.

Councilman Daniel Lorraine, who voted in favor of every amendment, said the budget process creates a “two-way street” in parish government by allowing councilmen to have some say in what projects receive designated funding.

Councilman Phillip Gouaux sided with Caillouet, calling the amendments “a waste of time,” considering the parish president has the sole authority as it pertains to executing projects, such as signing contracts with engineers and architects.

The budget’s size was not altered, but roughly $2.1 million in projected revenue was designated for specific projects and other causes.

Most of the amendments designated projected revenue toward pet projects within the sponsors’ districts.

The parish’s capital budget, previously set at $33.4 million, received an additional $2 million through the amendments. The parish’s Home Rule Charter mandates that the parish president “initiate any capital outlay item” included during the budgeting process during the fiscal year.

Parish President Charlotte Randolph said after the meeting she was unsure whether or not she would veto any budget amendments.

Most of the pulled amendments were stricken at Randolph’s request. Some, like a $50,000 capital-project appropriation to repair the Cut Off Youth Center Pool, were eliminated because the councilmen heeded her warning that the parish assumes ownership, and future maintenance, of capital projects.

The council is expected to address funding such projects via different methods.

Alternatively, $139,000 was de-obligated from funding two new executive department positions and $20,000 from supporting the non-profit coastal advocacy group Restore or Retreat. The monies were restored to the parish’s autonomous royalty fund.

Among the amendments was the pledging of $400,000 to begin funding a new detention center. The money would be used to locate and appraise the site of a new facility, said sponsoring Councilman Lindel Toups.

The current jail was built in 1968, expanded nine years later and has had crowding issues since 1995. The parish council began planning the construction of a new facility in 2005.

“We don’t have a study that tells us how many beds we need,” said Gouaux, who opposed the allocation.

Parish leaders have yet to cement any details of a new jail, but in discussion of how much revenue the parish needs to raise, they typically use $20 million and 600 beds.

A parish-commissioned study in 2009 concluded that Lafourche would need an 894-bed facility by 2030 to stay ahead of rising detention rates. The American Civil Liberties Union and a criminal justice expert the organization brought before the council said that number might be inflated.

Through another amendment, the council appropriated $275,000 in royalty money toward making an offer on Fourchon Beach property owned by the Caillouet Land Corporation.

The figure arose from an appraisal sponsored by the South Lafourche Beachfront Development Commission of the Caillouet property. The land corporation does not agree that is a fair price and does not intend to sell the property. The impasse could lead to an attempt to expropriate the land.

Jay Caillouet, administrator for the land corporation, reiterated a message he delivered to councilmen in January: If you come for the property, be prepared for a lengthy legal battle.

“Our position has not changed,” Caillouet said. “Our property is not for sale.”

Opening Fourchon Beach for public access and developing it to attract tourists would create an economic boon for the parish, supporters argued. The landowners – Caillouet and the Wisner Donation, a private land trust – have closed the beach to the public since the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010.

Complicating matters further is the state-sponsored Caminada Headlands Restoration project. The $70 million project is under way to restore 5 miles of beach with 2.8 million cubic yards of sand. It is meant to enhance storm surge protection for Port Fourchon and lower Lafourche.

The council also established a clerk position subordinate to the internal auditor. The lawmakers amended the budget to include $44,000 in salary and benefits for the position and approved a resolution creating the job. Both measures passed with six votes.

The council established the position in October but had to rescind the measure and rewrite the job description at the urging of the district attorney. It was originally classified as a federal grant writer/federal grant compliance monitor.

Internal Auditor Tommy Lasseigne was hired this year after politically charged debate. Randolph staunchly opposed his position

Lasseigne authored many of the budget’s amendments, though only as requested by the council, which he answers to, he said.