Amended budget to be adopted Monday by St. Martinville City Council

Published 10:00 am Sunday, June 30, 2019

The St. Martinville City Council will meet Monday evening to adopt its amended 2018-2019 budget and its proposed 2019-2020 budget, even though council members admit there will be further adjustments in coming months.

During its regular meeting June 24, the council voted to hold off a proposed 3 percent pay increase for city workers until the city’s expenditures and revenues could be reconciled through the rest of the fiscal year, which ends today. Currently, records have been updated through February, leaving four months of transactions to be accounted for.

State law requires the budget to be adopted prior to the beginning of the city’s fiscal year on July 1. At last week’s meeting auditor Burton Kolder said, because the end of the fiscal year falls on a Sunday, the council can adopt the proposed budget on Monday without being cited in its audit for missing the deadline.

Chief Administrative Officer Avis Gutekunst said she expects the accounting for the 2018-2019 fiscal year to be complete by the end of August. At that time any adjustments to the budget that are needed, including the discussion of employee pay increases, can be brought before the council.

The budget as proposed shows the city with $10,096,790 in operating revenues for the 2019-2020 fiscal year against operating expenses of $10,958,963. The $856,000 deficit is made up through capital leases and depreciation, Kolder said, leaving the city with a small operating surplus of $56,000.

Under state law, the council will also have to make amendments to the 2018-2019 budget if any of the accounts, when reconciled, are off by more than 5 percent.

The budgetary actions are the only items on the agenda for Monday’s meeting. The council will take up a full agenda at its next regular meeting on July 15.

The council will meet Monday at 6 p.m. in the city council meeting room in St. Martinville City Hall, 120 New Market St. in St. Martinville.