St. Martinville adopts budget at council meeting

Published 9:00 am Tuesday, July 2, 2019

ST. MARTINVILLE — The St. Martinville City Council adopted its amended budget for the last fiscal year and the new budget for the upcoming year even as accountants work to close the books for the last four months of the 2018-2019 fiscal year.

Chief Administrative Officer Avis Gutekunst said the reconciliation process is proceeding, with the city’s accounts now reconciled through mid-March.

“Once we get into the April billing, things should move quickly,” Gutekunst said.

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 council had voted on June 24 to hold off on funding a 3 percent pay raise for city employees until the previous fiscal year’s accounts were closed and the final budget amended. It is expected that a discussion of raises will be taken up in September.

The budget for the 2019-2020 fiscal year 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, leaving the city with a small operating surplus of $56,000.

The two budget approvals were the only action items on the agenda.

The upcoming July 4 holiday took a toll on attendance at Monday’s meeting, with only two of five councilmen — Mayor Pro Tem Craig Prosper and District 3 Councilman Dennis Paul Williams — in attendance. Mayor Melinda Mitchell cast the third vote in favor of adopting the two budgets to make a quorum.

The council’s next meeting is scheduled for July 15 at 6 p.m.