The Jeanerette Board of Aldermen voted down an introductory ordinance to approve the town’s fiscal budget for the new year at Monday’s board meeting.

The ordinance, which would have gone on for final approval at next month’s meeting, was nixed after Alderman Clarence Clark gave a substitute motion to hold a special meeting where the budget could be reviewed and discussed before approval is given.

During the meeting, Clark asked for the agenda item to be tabled following several questions he had regarding changes between the new budget and the current budget.

“Is there a way we can call a special meeting so we can take last year’s budget numbers and compare them to this year’s budget numbers?” Clark asked.

Mayor Carol Bourgeois Jr., who worked on the current budget along with his administration, said the current budget is available on the town’s website and could be reviewed at each board member’s leisure.

The mayor instead suggested that specific questions would be able to be asked next month when the budget would come back for approval.

“I really don’t want to go into this discussion at this time,” Bourgeois said. “A lot of man hours were put in, we can review it and chop it up when it comes back for public hearing,” Bourgeois said.

Clark said budget workshops were the norm for the Board of Aldermen.

“This is a city council budget to operate the city, we have done it in the past so why can’t we do it,” he said.

A substitute motion was made to table the budget until a special meeting could be held. The motion passed with all board members except for Alderman Willie Ward voting for it.

In other business, the board voted down an ordinance that would have made the position of mayor a full-time position, rather than a part-time position.

The introductory ordinance was introduced by Ward and would have made Bourgeois a full-time employee with access to a city vehicle and a $300 vehicle allowance.

The board previously voted to make the position part-time during Mayor Aprill Foulcard’s tenure as mayor.

The agenda item failed with Aldermen Clarence Clark, Butch Bourgeois and Ray Duplechain voting against the item.