City budget approved

The city’s accountant and its alderman at large call the 2016 budget approved Tuesday as “standstill” and “shoestring.”
A $7.240 million general fund budget was approved, up 1 percent from the 2015 budget.
Accountant Steve Moosa said the general fund balance had a surplus of about $45,000 when the fiscal year ended June 30. He projects an ending balance at the end of June 2016 of about $100,000.
Jack Burson, alderman at-large, said of the general fund budget, “This is more or less a standstill budget with no extras.”
The general fund includes general operations such as police, fire and city court.
But Moosa pointed out the city has about $3.5 million in the bank for emergencies.
The city’s consolidated 2016 revenue budget, which includes all funds, is $17 million, down from the 2015 budget of $19.8 million. Consolidated total expenses are $16.4 million, down from $19.7 million budgeted in 2015 and from $18.5 million actual expenditure on June 30, the end of the fiscal year.
In a budget message, Mayor Rusty Moody noted three items.
— Revenues, excluding grants and interfund transfers are budgeted to decrease 5 percent from the previous year’s budget. The decrease is primarily attributable to a reduction of the expected sales tax collections.
— Expenditures, excluding grants and interfund transfers, are budgeted to remain level overall.
— The budget includes capital outlay for police equipment ($95,000), fire equipment ($25,000), recreation and community centers ($66,000), street overlay, ($500,000), wastewater ($25,000), gas $70,000), and other ($233,000).
Burson said, “I would like to take this opportunity to point out to citizens that we have a millage in our city of 11.6 mills. By way of comparison, Crowley, Jennings, Basile, have over 30 mills. If we want meaningful improvement in our infrastructure, if we want money expended on other needs in the city, at some point we are going to have to face that differential.”
A 15-year bond issue was approved in Crowley to improve all city streets, he said.
“Now, we’ve never done that here,” Burson said. “But at some point we need to face the fact we owe a debt to the next generation.”
Burson said much of core city was developed in the 1920s and 1930s with streets lined curbs and gutters.
“I always thought it is going to be very difficult for us to sell our town to be a great place to live when we know we have streets with two-foot pot holes,” Burson said.
On another infrastructure front, Moody gained the board’s approval for a gas rate hike.
“The gas rates have not been raised in the city of Eunice since 1993,” Moody said. “We currently have a little over 16 miles of gas lines in the city of Eunice. Many of those are cast iron and need to be replaced.”
The mayor proposes a $3 increase on the first 1,000 cubic meters of gas, which would raise the basic gas rate from $7.20 to $10.20, he said.
“With a rate increase we can start full-fledged projects and planning,” he said.
By comparison, Moody said the basic gas rate is $11.40 in Crowley, Jennings and Opelousas.
Burson said the increase is “...not an amount that is going to seriously hurt anybody.”
Other business by aldermen included
Approved naming the tennis complex as the “Reginald Keller Tennis Complex.”
Approved hiring two provisional jailers.
Approved the promotion of Sebastin Noel from police officer to sergeant.
Authorized the mayor to negotiate a property exchange with Bayou State Investment, which would provide additional parking at the Northwest Community Center.
Approved a request from Police Chief Randy Fontenot for a lease-purchase of five police vehicles. The lease will cost $52,000 the first year, $105,000 the second year and $157,000 the third year. After those payments the city purchases the vehicles for a dollar.