The Ville Platte city council voted Friday to adopt an amended budget for the fiscal year ending June 30 and also voted to adopt a budget for the fiscal year beginning Monday.
The newly adopted amended budget shows a surplus in excess of $3 million dollars.
Before the vote, a public meeting was held on the issue of both budget ordinances. During the public hearing, Arthur Sampson notified the mayor and council that he had filed a suit in the 13th Judicial District Court over the previous council meeting held June 17 where the council voted to raise the utility rates.
“That meeting will be nullified,” Sampson said. “You won’t be able to use anything from that meeting.”
Tension broke out during the public hearing when councilman Donald Sam began exchanging words with Sampson. The tension carried over once the regular meeting was called to order.
“There needs to be respect no matter which side it comes from,” councilman Bryant Riggs said. “It’s time for us to be respectful. If we are going to disagree, let’s disagree respectfully.”
“If anybody thinks they can do this job better than anyone up here,” he continued, “put your name on the ballot and run.”
Councilwoman Faye Lemoine also chimed in on the comments coming from some members of the community. “We’ve been working very hard the last few weeks, and we’ve been working hard to do what’s right for the city,” she said. “I’m really getting tired of being accused of doing something wrong. We’re not doing anything wrong. We’re trying to do what’s right.”
“None of us here are accountants or financial advisors,” she continued, “but we were given the responsibility to run this city. We are smart enough to read a budget and an expense report. If we don’t understand them, we’re smart enough to ask for help. I think it was very smart for us to follow the advice of the financial advisor for what we needed to do for our city. I’ve heard enough negative, and I’m ready to move on to the positive. We’re not here to destroy the city. We’re here to help it.”
Tensions escalated when Riggs and Mayor Jennifer Vidrine rebutted comments made during last week’s Evangeline Chamber of Commerce meeting.
“Those statements were very negative, insulting, and condescending for this entire council and for me,” Vidrine said. “By far, they were unnecessary, and a lot of the comments weren’t even true.”
She continued, “In the same meeting, the Chamber, the very same organization that criticized us for increasing our rates, increased their rates by 25-percent. But, I guess they don’t understand financial statements and budgets very well because they did exactly the same thing we did.”
The mayor ended her comments by reporting some business owners in the city have told her “they are not taking the position the Chamber is taking.” She added, “It’s only three or four businesses who are doing this. The Chamber is not representing the entire businesses.”
The tension reached its climax when Kelly Trahan told the council, “I think you’re overpaid for what you do, and, to me, you’re stealing from the city.”
Before the council cast its vote on the proposed budgets, Vidrine gave an overview of the amended budget and the new proposed budget.
“Our budget ending June 30 is $14,413,795,” she said. “Our proposed budget ending in 2020 will be $14,070,991. In this new budget, we have capital outlay funds in the amount of $2,111,382. These projects include air conditioning for City Hall, a fire truck, side walk improvements, street infrastructure, street lights, street signs and stop signs, the entrance project, more street cameras, more trash cans, Northside Park maintenance vehicle, and park projects for all three of the parks in the city.”
The mayor further reported, “In our general fund ending June 30, 2019, we had a surplus of $3,508,674. Our projected fund balance ending in 2020 will be $2,972,426. The utility fund budget for 2020 is projected to be $441,000.00.”
According to the mayor, the proposed budget reflects the first year of the rate increases.
“The year one additional revenue with the increased rates was a total of $568,000. The water department will get $230,000; the sewer department will get $244,000; and the gas department will get $94,000.”
Both the amended budget and the new budget passed by a unanimous vote.
