[StBernard] St. Bernard finances not in crisis

Westley Annis westley at da-parish.com
Sat Jul 1 23:24:36 EDT 2006


St. Bernard finances not in crisis
Federal, tax money enough for 2006
Saturday, July 01, 2006
By Karen Turni Bazile

After months worrying about the state of the parish's finances, St. Bernard
Parish Council members got good news this week: The parish expects enough
money this year to pay for reduced services, thanks to additional federal
funds and higher than expected tax collections.

Officials said that halfway through the year, their reduced $30 million
budget remains on track even though they have nearly spent a $8.9 million
federal loan received immediately after Hurricane Katrina. The budget is a
39 percent drop from last year's $49 million.

Still, council members had said in recent weeks that they were worried about
how the parish would make ends meet once the federal loan money was gone.
But administrators told officials at Thursday's Executive-Finance Committee
meeting that the parish was OK financially because they are collecting
higher than expected sales taxes and because there are reimbursements coming
from FEMA to cover day to day expenses.


"This thing is not as bad as it looks like," Parish President Henry "Junior"
Rodriguez said.

Acting Parish Chief Administrative Officer Dave Peralta said the budget
figures are askew because the council, in its zeal to adopt a tight
streamlined budget to accommodate a diminished parish, allocated too little
or too much money for certain departments, and the money now can be shifted
in light of changing needs.

For instance, the parish budgeted about $93,000 to run a juvenile detention
center, as mandated by state law, Peralta said. However, the facility is not
expected to reopen this year. So that money can be used to make up for
shortfalls in the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency
Preparedness, which already has overspent its year's budget by about 10
percent, Peralta said.

Another department that has been under scrutiny is the Fire Department,
which has spent hundreds of thousands in overtime. At the requests of the
administration and the council, Fire Chief Thomas Stone recently reorganized
personnel schedules to cut overtime expenses by about $60,000 a month,
enough to keep in line with the department budget.

"We spent money out of our regular operating budget to cover costs that will
be covered by FEMA reimbursements, but those reimbursements have not been
received at this time so the budget is out whack," Peralta said.

Because there already is about $1.78 million in reimbursements approved in
the pipeline, Peralta said the parish should be able to reconcile its budget
shortly.

"We can make it with what we have right now and with what we have from FEMA
through (expected) reimbursements. We are well within our budget," Peralta
said.

Even though some departments have spent more than they should, the parish is
operating with a monthly surplus of about $150,000 to $200,000, Peralta
said. They are using the money to deal with some emergencies, such as an
anticipated $80,000 expense to fix the air-conditioning system at the parish
jail.

The higher than expected sales tax collections, which are coming in at about
$250,000 extra per month, are attributed to parish residents buying cars and
more retail businesses reopening.

Officials also said the parish could borrow another $8 million in federal
money, which would not have to be repaid for five years.

"It could be a safety net if we have to go to it," Peralta said. "But I
really don't think we will have to do that." The council has not received a
detailed report of the parish expenses, as the administration did not
deliver a spending report that was due at Thursday's meeting. In response,
the council went into a closed door session to discuss personnel matters
regarding employees who were supposed to prepare that documentation.

Peralta promised that the administration will give the council a more
detailed financial report in about two weeks.

. . . . . . .

Karen Turni Bazile can be reached at kturni at timespicayune.com or (504)
352-2539.





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