Harlan Kirgan
The Eunice city government’s budget process seems designed to keep controversy behind closed doors.
The mayor meets with one or two aldermen to discuss the budget, which avoids violating the state’s open meeting law.
The public gets a very basic look at the budget in a public notice, which is published on Page 8 today.
The notice is required before a public hearing is held and that’s scheduled at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday before the Board meets at 6:30 p.m.
Adoption of the budget for the fiscal year that started this month is on the agenda.
A budget was tabled in June when overtime in the police and fire departments was questioned by aldermen Germaine Simpson and Ernest Blanchard.
A meeting was held Wednesday to set the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting. Mayor Scott Fontenot, Police Chief Randy Fontenot and Blanchard were the only elected officials present.
The mayor said work and vacations limited attendance at the meeting.
The mayor said the police department in the fiscal year ended in June was $40,000 over it budget.
A proposed budget increase in the police overtime budget of $100,000 had been trimmed to $80,000, he said.
The police chief responded, “I haven’t seen you all’s new proposed budget.”
He added, “I’ll look at it and see, but nobody has talked to me about that to find out what was going on with my budget. So, I could have shown that I have all kinds of figures.”
The mayor said the concerns came from aldermen and as the only one present, Blanchard acknowledged the police department is understaffed.
Time sheets show office staff in the police department are paid overtime and one police officer had 47.5 hours of overtime in one pay period, he said.
The police chief said, “I’ll work with you all. You all ask questions. I’ll answer them. I have the answers for you. I waited for the meetings.”
He added, “I’m at your mercy with the budget. I have to work with the budget you give me, but all these decisions are being made. Nobody is contacting me to talk to me about what is going on with it.”
Randy Fontenot also added, “I wanted to have meetings. Nobody wants to meet with me.”
Alderwoman Germaine Simpson also questioned the police overtime and the police said she was requesting more officers be on patrol at the first of the year and now she wants overtime cut, he said.
“I can control overtime. We are going to have less people patrolling,” Fontenot said of reducing overtime.
Blanchard said the police department was 4.2 percent over budget in the fiscal year ended in June.
Mayor Fontenot added that the fire department overtime was out of control in the past fiscal year.
The biggest issue is what is going to happen in three to five years after raises occur.
Voters approved a 0.25 percent tax in May with 78 percent approval in an election with a 11.9 percent turnout.
The tax is to generate at least $500,000 a year with police getting a $3 an hour raise and firefighters a $2 an hour raise.
The good news over the pending pay raise soured as the overtime issue was raised.
The police chief said financial advisor Steve Moosa told the Board at the June meeting the budget purposefully under-budgets overtime. A voter-approved measure allows up to 10 percent of sales tax collected for capital improvements be used in emergencies for other uses such as overtime.
“I don’t want the appearance we are overspending in the police department,” the police chief said.
The mayor said if the overtime is not brought under control it will have a “trickle effect” in the next five years.
“This council is not here to hurt you or your department, but the biggest concern by Ms. Simpson and Mr. Ernest and Ms. Connie (Thibodeaux) and the other council members is what happens when the raises go into effect because we want to give a substantial raise, but we don’t want to cripple the city in five years,” the mayor said.
About the police chief being left out of the budget talks, “Unfortunately, they did not include you in those conversations. I don’t know why that didn’t happen,” the mayor said.
Blanchard said it was decided to have the discussion about the police budget at the agenda meeting “instead of bringing it in front of the camera.”
Randy Fontenot noted the agenda meeting is a public meeting.
The public notice published today summarizes the budget to be presented Tuesday indicates public safety is being cut $50,000 compared to the notice in June .
Public safety is budgeted at $3,861,300, down from $3,911,300 proposed last month.
Public safety is the only portion of the budget cut in the proposal to be presented at Tuesday’s meeting.