Who will get nod for IPC D2 seat?

The Iberia Parish Council will hold the third of four hearings on the upcoming 2021 operating budget Monday night. Here’s what you should look for in this week’s slate of funds to be reviewed:

Royalty Fund

For decades, Iberia Parish depended on its Royalty Fund — a pot of money kept full from oil, gas and mining revenues — to keep a lot of its projects alive. Need new roads? Bond it against the royalty revenues. Have a pet project that needs a financial shot in the arm? Dedicate some of the millions that were filling the royalty coffers each year to cover it.

Those days are gone. This year, the projected budget showed $700,000 in royalty revenue. The actual revenue so far is not even $200,00, with a projection to end 2020 at about $300,000.

For the next fiscal year, the royalty revenue projection is $300,000. That is causing some concern over bond payments that have previously been paid out of the fund as well as the parish’s Road District 10 Fund, which derives much of its revenue from the royalty payments.

The fund is projected to end 2020 at almost $4 million and end 2021 at $755,000, a drop of more than $3 million.

Acadiana Fairgrounds Commission Fund

This is another quandary for the council and the administration. Remember where we were talking about projects being funded without any dedicated revenue source? The Acadiana Fairgrounds falls under that category. For years, the administration has tried to make the facility earn its own way, but that has not happened yet. According to the projected budget, it will end the 2020 fiscal year more than $100,000 in debt. On a positive note, its fund balance is projected to be only $87,000 in the red at the end of 2021.

Dipping into fund balances

Although many funds are projected to come out of 2021 with some positive balance, most are going to be dipping into existing fund balances during the fiscal year. Because the administration has not been successful in having its millages raised, that means that, barring draconian cuts, the budget’s reserves will continue to dwindle. That dwindling, started after the oilfield revenues plummeted in 2016, has only become more severe in the uncertain time of COVID-19 shutdowns.

What’s on the agenda?

Here are the funds to be discussed Monday night:

• Sewerage District No. 1 Fund Budget

• Sewerage District No. 1 – Port of Iberia Fund Budget

• Airport Authority Fund Budget

• Acadiana Fairgrounds Commission Fund Budget

• Waterworks District No. 1 Fund Budget

• Royalty Fund Budget

• Five Year Capital Outlay Budget

When is this happening?

The council will meet at 6 p.m. Monday in the parish council meeting room on the fourth floor of the Iberia Parish Courthouse, 300 Iberia St.