Parish Council meets on budgets

Published 6:00 am Thursday, November 30, 2017

at some council members were expecting to be long and grueling zipped by Wednesday night as the IPC quickly signed off on more than 40 fund budgets for the new fiscal year.

The 2017 fiscal year started out with a general fund that was projected to have $4.9 million in revenue and $5.2 million in expenditures, with total revenue projected at $47.9 million. The year ends Dec. 31 and will be taken over with a new budget that is similar in scope. 

Councilman Warren Gachassin, filling in for absent chairperson Natalie Broussard, introduced each budget followed by a vote with little to no discussion. The council has been mulling over the new year’s budget for several weeks during special meetings scheduled to answer any questions council members had.

There were few concerns with the final product. Councilman Ricky Gonsoulin asked to table the Rabies Control Fund for the next IPC meeting after Iberia Parish President Larry Richard said an agreement with the city of New Iberia has yet to be finalized.

The parish and city of New Iberia have been working out an intergovernmental agreement for the parish to provide animal control services for the city. However, Richard said he was skeptical that an agreement would be signed before the meeting.

After a brief conversation, Gachassin ended the conversation and suggested it be discussed at a future date. 

“Mr. Gonsoulin, can you get with the administration off to the side and get that going on?” Gachassin asked. “We can get that discussion tomorrow.”

Gonsoulin agreed and withdrew his motion for a table. The fund budget passed unanimously.

Also briefly discussed was the Fire Protection District No. 1 Budget, when Gachassin asked if funds for the scheduled repairs to the Rynella Volunteer Fire Department were budgeted. When that was confirmed, the vote passed unanimously.