St. Martinville lays off 27 employees, furloughs two

Published 8:00 am Wednesday, April 15, 2020

ST. MARTINVILLE — The city of St. Martinville will be running a little leaner after nearly 30 employees were either laid off or furloughed effective Tuesday.

The St. Martinville City Council met, mostly by phone, to hear a recommendation from Chief Administrative Officer Avis Gutekunst on what cuts would be needed to offset the city’s massive loss of revenue during the first month of the COVID-19 stay-at-home order and the economic death it brought in its wake.

The cuts were across the board, touching most city departments. The Acadian Heritage Museum will be closed, its full-time and part-time staff laid off. The city’s part-time grass cutting crews went from a total of 10 employees to two employees. The city park staff, city hall staff and police department all saw cuts in part-time workers.

Altogether, 25 part-time and two full-time employees were laid off. Two other full time employees were furloughed, meaning they could be brought back on board quickly when the city starts to reopen after the COVID-19 shutdown.

“This adds up to about $20,000 per payroll period,” said Gutekunst. “So we are looking at about $40,000 a month in savings.”

That $40,000 monthly is about what the city lost in video gaming revenue during the shutdown, but it is not all of the damage done to the municipality’s coffers.

“The sales tax revenue is way down,” Gutekunst said. “With all of our restaurants closed, it has made a difference.”

The meeting was held with only one councilman, District 1’s Mike Fuselier, and Mayor Melinda Mitchell on the dais, along with Executive Assistant Lorrie Poirier. Gutekunst, Public Works Supervisor Brian Touchet and Chief of Police Ricky Martin were the only audience members. The other attendees — the other four council members and Legal Counsel Allan Durand — were on a phone, dialed in from remote locations to keep the attendance, including members of the media, under 10.

One of the challenges facing the city financially, according to Fuselier, is that none of the money allocated from the federal CARES Act has made its way to the individual municipalities.

“That federal money went to the state,” Fuselier said. “The city is not getting any money. With all of our restaurants closed, we aren’t seeing any money there.”

For comparison, one of the city’s more popular restaurants, the St. John, provides almost $15,000 in tax revenue alone.

The council voted unanimously to accept and enact the playoffs and furloughs as proposed, effective Tuesday.

“That’s going to help,” Fuselier said.