Praise is mutual for Morgan City Council, housing director; city will get $80,000 check

Do the Morgan City Council and the Morgan City Housing Authority respect each other? You can count the ways — 80,000 of them.
The council heard from Housing Authority Director Clarence Robinson on Tuesday that he planned to give the city a check for $80,635 Friday, a payment in lieu of taxes.
The regular fourth-Tuesday meeting of the council was moved up to avoid meeting the week of Thanksgiving.
The check from the Housing Authority will go one way. The praise Tuesday was mutual.
The housing unit occupancy rate is over 90%. Council members gave Robinson, who also directs the Berwick Housing Authority, credit for bringing the authority under control in terms of security. His seven years as director in Morgan City have also put the authority on a sounder financial footing.
A 2013 audit had found excessive bonuses being paid to three authority employees, including two who received bonuses equal to 10% of their salaries. That audit by the Legislative Auditor’s Office also found inaccurate income infor-mation for six of the 25 Section 8 tenants whose files were examined.
A 2015 audit showed that the authority lost $244,000, but said the authority’s compliance with financial rules and internal controls had improved dramatically.
At Tuesday’s council meeting, Robinson returned the compliment, emphasizing that the Housing Authority is a part of city government.
“The infrastructure, we can’t handle that,” Robinson told the coun-cil. “We can’t handle the lights.
“That’s why it’s good when you step up.”
Also Tuesday, the council unanimously passed its 2022 general fund and capital budget.
The general budget anticipates revenue of $42.9 million, up slightly from the current year, and about $42.9 million in spending.
The spending plan an-ticipates no change in service levels or in the number of city employ-ees. The big change, Finance Director Debo-rah Garber said, will be the American Rescue Plan Act money that appears in the capital outlay budget, plus requests for funding from the Legislature’s capital budget.
Morgan City’s govern-ment is receiving $3.8 million in American Rescue Plan Act money in two equal install-ments, one this year and one next year.
The rules in the act say funding must be used for supporting public health expenditures, to “address negative impacts caused by the public health emergency,” to replace lost public sector reve-nue, to provide premium pay for essential workers, and to invest in water, sewage treatment and broadband infra-structure.
In other action Tues-day:
—The council heard from Dwayne Barbier, the city recreation director who heads the insurance committee, that employee health insurance premiums will remain at their current level next year. The co-pay for hospitalization is being reduced to $20 from $40.
—Two 11th Street residents came to the council, looking for a good night’s sleep.
Debbie Thomas, ac-companied by Patrina Coulon, told the council that their neighbor’s three dogs bark at night, keeping them awake.
Councilman Ron Bias put them with Police Chief James F. Blair before the meeting. When they were at the lectern, Mayor Lee Dragna promised action.
“It’s not fair that you can’t sleep at night,” Dragna said.