St. Mary’s 2010 proposed budget likely short of needed $36.2M: Naquin

St. Mary Parish will likely have to tap its reserves to balance its 2010 fiscal budget, Parish President Paul Naquin warned the council at last week’s regular meeting.

Naquin’s proposed parish budget projects $33.5 million in revenues will be generated – roughly $2.7 million short of the $36.2 million needed to cover expenses. If the budget is approved, the council will have to borrow the difference from its reserves, leaving approximately $20 million in its rainy day fund.

Despite the shortfall, Naquin’s 2010 budget does include a 2.5 percent “cost of living” pay raise for parish employees.

“(The raise) is in keeping with the council’s and the administration’s desire to provide competitive wages with the private sector in order to maintain a trained, experienced workforce,” he said.

Also of interest in the coming year’s budget is an allocation from the parish’s gaming fund.

St. Mary Parish receives $1.5 million annually in docking fees from the Amelia Belle Casino. Within Naquin’s proposed 2010 budget are two requests seeking to move a portion of that money to pay undedicated expenditures.

The first request would require $35,000 be spent to pay electricity costs to light the Ralph Darden Memorial Parkway, the main thoroughfare that runs adjacent to Cypress Bayou in Charenton.

A second request would transfer $125,000 to Baldwin to help build a recreation center. That request would be in addition to the $28,000 the town already receives.

Monies from the Amelia Belle deal are divvied among St. Mary government branches and outlying municipalities. Morgan City receives $61,000 annually; Patterson, $34,000; and Franklin, $37,000.

The parish council will host a budget workshop Wednesday, Nov. 18, beginning at 4:30 p.m. in the council chambers. The 2010 fiscal plan will be discussed.

In other fiscal matters, Parish Chief Administrative Officer Henry “Bo” LaGrange informed the council that St. Mary received a $563,905 grant from the state Department of Health and Hospitals. The money is intended to help address alcohol abuse parishwide.

St. Mary was one of 12 parishes statewide to receive the grant. It targets underage and early adult drinking, focusing on ages 12 to 18 and 18 to 29, according to LaGrange.

“The money will be used to implement our strategic plan through education, events, (awareness) campaigns and law enforcement checkpoints,” he said.

In other business, LaGrange said St. Mary is eligible to receive $400,000 in Louisiana Recovery Authority monies to improve local fisheries.

The program covers construction and improvements to public and private facilities used in commercial fisheries, acquiring property to implement public projects related to fisheries, improvements to public boat launches and public access to fishing ramps and piers, he said. The money can also be used to provide economic development help to for-profit businesses with uninsured infrastructure losses to repair private docks, icehouses and processing or shipping facilities that are part of the seafood distribution system.