St. Martin Parish Council members passed a $60 million budget for 2018 at their meeting on Tuesday evening. 

The budget has $35 million in operating and maintenance budget and $25 million in capital outlays. The entire budget was passed unanimously. 

St. Martin Parish President Guy Cormier also updated the council on a permit finally received from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, one the parish has been working on for seven years. The permit is for a flood protection plan, Cormier said, that will protect about 180 homes in the Bayou Estates subdivision. 

“We’ve been working on this a long time, and it’s great news,” Cormier said. 

“We just heard from the Corps the permit passed on Friday. This will protect a lot of homes, and it will require a lot less sandbagging,” he said. 

“Most people don’t sit around and let their house flood. They sandbag. But it costs us quite a bit to sandbag year after year, and this will help a lot. This helps the whole area,” he said.

Also at Tuesday evening’s meeting, Mr. Benaber “Benny” Hulin and Mr. Russell Knott were reappointed to serve as members of the St. Martin Parish Industrial Development Board.

An ongoing $6 million parish road improvement project with the Coastal Bridge Co. LLC., came in under budget. A resolution passed to allow Cormier to execute changes to the contract to use a remaining $297,923.61.   

The original budget for the Clayton Boudreaux Memorial Park Multipurpose Building Project, by Bienvenu Construction Co., came in over initial expectations. A resolution was passed authorizing Cormier to execute a new contract for the project with a savings of $109,470.30.

A $700,000 project funded by the state Department of Natural Resources for a Butte La Rose Boat Launch improvement came in with $109,470.30 to spend. A resolution authorized Cormier to execute changes to that contract to use the entire funds. Cormier said the additional money will be used to change the planned limestone parking lot to an asphalt one, and to add lighting to the boat launch that wasn’t budgeted for previously.

“Those will make the boat launch a safer place,” he said.     

The council also passed a resolution declaring Nov. 11 as Veterans Day.