Budget review briefing set for IPC

Published 1:30 pm Tuesday, April 19, 2016

The Iberia Parish Council will hear the results of a three-month scrubbing of the parish budget Wednesday evening at a special committee hearing called to discuss that item as well as proposals for reducing the size of the council from 14 members to as few as seven.

The briefing from Parish Finance Director Kim Segura will focus on the results of the budget review and the current state of the various department line items. The council voted in January to freeze new spending until the review could be completed.

Parish President Larry Richard said in previous weeks that the internal review has identified some capital expenditures that could be delayed, but even those are going to have to be reassessed in next year’s budget.

“All of these cuts that we have identified for equipment and other purchases that we are pulling out for this year aren’t going away,” Richard said Friday. “At some point, we will have to come back to them in order to continue doing the work that we do.”

Most of the cuts Richard has publicly acknowledged are in the Public Works budget. Several purchase proposals for new trucks, land moving equipment and other machinery have been put on hold for the current budget year.

One item that has been on hold pending the completion of the review is a 2 1/2 percent raise for parish employees.

The council also is wasting no time in moving forward with research into a proposed redistricting that could see a reduction in the size of the council after the 2019 election cycle.

Demographer Michael Hefner of Lafayette developed the new maps showing proposed districts under councils with seven, nine and 11 members. The only item up for discussion on the Executive Committee agenda is an ordinance that would put the question of reducing the number of council seats before the voters on the fall general election ballot.

Even if adopted, the changes would not go into effect until the next council takes office in January, 2020.

At the regular committee hearings April 5, Hefner said that if the council made the change before the next census, and the districts stayed within plus or minus five percent of the size when they were configured under the new census data, then the council would not have to redo the map to suit the new numbers.

Even if the council decides to remain at 14 members, or the public votes down any proposed change, the council likely will have to make changes to the existing districts to account for population shifts documented in the upcoming 2020 census. One point that has been echoed in each discussion of the reduction plan is how the number of seats affects the minority representation on the board and the racial makeup of the various districts.

“The nine-member council usually works for minority districts better than the seven,” Hefner said. “Under your current 14-seat system, you have about 27 percent minority districts. Under a nine-seat council, you would have 33 percent.”

Hefner defined a minority district as one which has 55 percent or more of its voting age population listed as a minority. His company, Geographic Planning and Demographic Services, would charge the parish $12,800 to complete all of the work needed to implement the new districts. That item is up for discussion on the Finance Committee agenda, along with a review of the current budget picture for the parish.

The special meeting will take place at 6 p.m. in the Parish Council Meeting Chambers, located on the fourth floor of the Parish Courthouse, 300 Iberia St.