Budget projections for the Acadia Parish Police Jury show a decrease in revenues of $2.8 million compared to what the jury was looking at this time last year.
However, the majority of that shortage is in the area of grant funding that has ended. When that happens, according to officials in the police jury office, there is a decrease in revenues and a corresponding decrease in expenditures.
Gone from the 2019 budget are grants in areas such as hazardous mitigation (over $1 million), Gustav/Ike grants (more than $400,000), Louisiana Community Water Enrichment Fund (down $31,000) and more.
A public hearing on the budget, which includes a 3 percent across-the-board raise for all parish employees with possible merit raises up to 5 percent, will be held at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 11, immediately preceding the monthly police jury meeting.
A summary of the proposed budget for 2019 will appear in the Thursday, Nov. 22, edition of The Crowley Post-Signal, in the Public Notices section.
According to the proposed budget for fiscal year 2019, the police jury expects total revenues in all funds of $29.3 million, compared to the 2018 projection of $26.5 million. That’s a 9.6 percent decrease.
With the anticipated drop in income, expenditures have been trimmed by $2.6 million — from $28.8 million to $26.2 million — compared to last year’s budget, a 9.1 percent decrease.
That’s a difference of only $337,233 in revenues over expenses for 2019.
A worse outlook is in the jury’s general fund, the day-to-day operational fund for the parish.
Revenues in that fund are down 21.7 percent, from $7.2 million in 2018 to a projected $5.6 million next years.
The largest decrease in revenues in the general fund is in the area of “intergovernmental revenue,” which dropped from an estimated $2.8 for 2018 to $1.4 for 2019.
“Intergovernmental revenue” is described as money from the state.
Anticipated expenditures in the general fund were slashed 21.7 percent, from $7.2 million to $5.6 million.
The line item “other protection, described as emergency management took the biggest hit in expenses. That’s where the majority of the grant funding mentioned above was funneled.
For the 2018 budget, that line item was estimated at $1.8 million. For 2019, it has been slashed by 90.3 percent to $173,550.
In the 2019 budget, the general fund has a total of $325 in the fund balance for any contingencies.
Anyone desiring to review or comment on the proposed budget may do so between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. at the Police Jury Administrative Offices.
