Parish Council finds some money, debate study of pay, organization

Should the St. Mary Parish Council spend some money in hopes of saving money as it tries to fix a $2.7 million budget shortfall?
That’s the question after Councilman J Ina on Feb. 14 proposed studies of parish employee compensation and organizational structure. The council’s Budget/Finance Committee will meet at 5 p.m. Wednesday to consider the studies and the budget dilemma.
There has been debate about the existence or size of the budget problem. But since last month, the council has been looking at falling short of needs for the rest of the budget year by $2.5 million-$2.7 million.
Chief Administrative Officer Jean Paul Bourg said at the Feb. 14 meeting that the administration has identified about $400,000 in additional revenue and $1.2 million in expense cuts for a total of about $1.6 million toward patching the budget hole.
The bulk of the new revenue, about $346,000, comes from budgeting the money raised when the council decided not to continue partially subsidizing residents’ trash pickup.
The parish government had been charging residents $19 of the $22.80 in monthly per-household charges and paying the rest. Now residents pay the full $22.80.
Bourg also said the parish government found that it is being charged by Pelican Waste for 700 more cans than show up on parish water bills. The charge for 700 cans would amount to more than $191,000 per year.
Possible reasons mentioned at the meeting include delinquency in paying water bills, a lack of accurate billing information from water districts and apartment buildings that have one water meter serving multiple households.
The biggest item among the proposed reductions is deferral of $351,000 in equipment purchases.
“This will probably be the easiest part,” Parish President Sam Jones said of the $1.6 million adjustment. “The toughest part comes with the second million.”
Jones said he intends to ask for no new taxes or fees to cover the shortfall.
Jones said he also intends to use a power given to the parish president in the parish charter: To determine whether there's sufficient money available in the operating and capital budgets to cover individual expenditures.
"It gives the parish president the authority to set the brakes on things that we don't have the money for at the time," Jones said.
That was the backdrop for Ina’s requests for studies of the parish’s compensation system and its organization.
Ina said he has obtained proposals from a company that performed similar work for the St. Mary Parish School Board. The compensation study would cost $14,900, the organizational study $16,900.
The studies may find savings by identifying jobs filled by employees who don’t have enough to do, or it may find jobs where employees are underpaid, Ina said.
He estimated that 70%-80% of parish spending is for personnel.
“Let’s just try to get it right,” Ina said.
Asked by Councilman Dean Adams of Morgan City which of the two studies is most important to Ina, he replied that it’s the organizational study, which he described as looking at “how we do government in St. Mary Parish.”
Ina’s proposals led to discussion about the wisdom of spending $31,800 for the studies at a time when the council is wrestling with a potential budget shortfall.
“It’s a tough time right now,” Ina said, “but we need to figure it out.”
The most pointed questions came from Councilman Patrick Hebert of Berwick. He noted that the study proposals are for work performed “virtually.” If travel to St. Mary is necessary, travel expenses will increase the cost, Hebert said.
He described the deal as an “open-ended” agreement.
Ina replied, “Do you think it’s important or do you not think it’s important?”
“Now that you’ve put words in my mouth,” Hebert said, “of course it’s important.”
One parish employee talked about compensation during the public comment portion of the meeting. Megan Thompson, an 11-year parish employee working in the road department, said employment in that department is down by half in the last year.
Other discussion during the meeting indicated that employment at the parish barn has slipped from 50 to 30.
Thompson said the low pay has led some employees to leave.
“These people still have to get done what a full crew would have had to get done,” Thompson said.
She encouraged the council to move ahead with the compensation study.
Also at the Feb. 14 meeting:
—Registrar of Voters Terri Foulcard brought to the council what may have been a budget request, or may have been a warning flag about an employment requirement.
Foulcard said her office is supposed to have seven employees. She has three.
She hopes to hire Courtney Long, a Southern University student from Morgan City who has worked as a commissioner at election time, on a part-time basis.
To be hired, parish employees must pass a physical examination and submit a urinalysis sample for drug testing.
Long was unable to provide a sample on her first visit, which was a red flag for the Personnel Department. She passed a test Feb. 9, but Foulcard said she was informed that Long would have to submit a sample for a hair follicle test.
The incident "has made me question my future in St. Mary Parish," Long said.
Foulcard asked CAO Bourg where the money for the extra tests is supposed to come from.
"To be honest with you," Bourg replied, "I'm not comfortable discussing this. It's not on the agenda. It's not something we should be discussing in a public meeting."
Beyond the budget question, the incident raised concerns on the council about a possible discrimination claim.
"If we don't do the same thing for everybody," Ina said, "that's an issue."
The legal advice was to go back to the parish administration to look for a way forward.
—Javon Charles, who has served on the board of the recreation district serving Bayou Vista, asked the council to consider resurrecting a parish recreation department.
One advantage would be to have playground inspections in the parish to protect children and the parish, Charles said.
—The council passed a resolution of respect for Glenda Richard Gaudet, a longtime parish employee who died Jan. 3.