UPDATED: Bourg resigns as St. Mary CAO; Parish Council closer to budget target

Chief Administrative Officer Jean Paul Bourg, who has been at the forefront of efforts to fix a potential budget shortfall, submitted his resignation to the St. Mary Parish Council on Monday.
The resignation was announced at Wednesday’s Parish Council meeting.
Bourg nevertheless managed to propose budget changes to help patch an anticipated budget shortfall of $2.5 million-$2.6 million. He presented those changes to the council Wednesday.
Also at the meeting, the council amended the Feb. 26 minutes to reflect that former Parish President David Hanagriff was indeed appointed to the board of the Port of West St. Mary. The appointment was originally ruled to have failed.
And Economic Development Director Evan Boudreaux explained what the parish’s role in the Louisiana Industrial Tax Exemption Program will look like after changes ordered by Gov. Jeff Landry.
CAO
Bourg built a solid reputation during his work with the pre-consolidation Gravity Drainage District No. 2, as parish public works director and, since his appointment by Hanagriff in April, as chief administrative officer.
Bourg succeeded longtime CAO Henry “Bo” LaGrange, who retired from that post and ran unsuccessfully for the state Senate last year.
During last fall’s campaign for parish president, eventual winner Sam Jones said the parish was having trouble meeting its payroll and the government had maxed out its ability to borrow. Those were controversial claims, but eventually council members and the administration settled on the idea that the parish budget would be $2.5 million-$2.7 million short by the end of the budget year in September.
Jones, speaking Wednesday, said information about the budget was difficult to come by during what he described as a “rough transition.”
Not long after taking office in January, Jones proposed replacing Bourg with former Baldwin Alderman Marion J. Newton. The council rejected Newton’s appointment.
In the following weeks, Jones said, he began to appreciate Bourg’s willingness to look at the budget and offer information. Jones found Bourg’s work and effort to be satisfactory.
“I want to tell you, he’s done a fine job,” Jones said.
There was no immediate word on the process for finding Bourg’s successor.
Budget
After proposing a series of amendments to close the budget gap last month, Bourg gave the council a list of potential expense cuts and revenue totaling $472,000. That would bring the council to within $200,000-$300,000 of its $2.5 million goal.
The council’s Budget Committee will meet at 5 p.m. March 27 to consider the proposals.
On the revenue side, Bourg proposed collecting or increasing rent from a few parish-related agencies housed on parish property, selling surplus property and raising fees for long-term camping at Kemper-Williams Park near Patterson.
The list also includes steeper cuts in parish allocations for nongovernmental service agencies, such as the Council on Aging and ARC of St. Mary/Center of Hope. Reducing allocations by 50%, instead of the 25% previously considered, would improve the budget picture by $168,000.
The parish may also explore using voice over internet protocol for its phone service rather than relying on traditional landline phones.
Among the biggest budget hurdles to clear are large debt service payments that will come due this summer.
After the payments, Bourg said, the administration will take another look at the budget and what the parish can afford.
Port board
The council voted 5-3 Feb. 26 in favor of Hanagriff’s appointment to the Port of West St. Mary board. But apparently because many issues require a clear majority for passage — six votes from the 11-member council — Hanagriff’s appointment was declared to have failed.
But three council members were absent Feb. 26. Councilman Rodney Olander of Franklin put an amendment to the Feb. 26 minutes on Wednesday’s agenda, citing a parish ordinance that says only a majority of members present is required to approve a board appointment.
The five votes for Hanagriff represented a majority of the eight members who were present, so Hanagriff’s appointment was successful after all.
ITEP
Louisiana offers a property tax break for up to 10 years for next manufacturers or expansions of existing industry under the Industrial Tax Exemption Program.
Before 2016, exemptions from local property taxes were largely a top-down decision by the state Board of Commerce and Industry. That year, then-Gov. John Bel Edwards changed ITEP to allow local governments affected by the tax exemptions to say yes or no, to reduce the abatement to 80% for five years with an option for five more, and to require the projects to meet job creation targets.
Now Gov. Jeff Landry has changed the program again, dropping the job creation requirement.
Economic Development Director Boudreaux told the council Wednesday that decisions on ITEP applications will now be up to a parishwide board made up of representatives of all the local governments. But the governor will be empowered to overrule the board’s decision.
“It looks like it doesn’t really matter what we do,” said Councilman J Ina of Franklin. “The governor can do whatever he wants to do.”
Insurance
Councilwoman Dr. Kristi Prejeant Rink of Centerville is hoping for a discussion and a possible resolution about soaring home and flood insurance rates.
Rates have risen steeply since the hurricanes of 2020-21 and the launch of a new system of rating risk used to determine premiums for federal flood insurance.
Rink told the council that St. Mary residents aren’t getting the benefit of flood prevention projects carried out here.
In recent years, the parish has seen multimillion dollar flood projects on Bayou Chene and Bayou Teche and a major levee improvement project in Morgan City.