City-Parish President Joey Durel presented his budget proposal to the City-Parish Council on Tuesday. The council will discuss the budget at briefings during the next month. Final adoption is set for Sept. 28.
The city of Lafayette sales tax "is experiencing unprecedented growth" of 23 percent during the current fiscal year through June, said Becky Lalumia, associate chief administrative officer.
"I think that we're in a very strong financial position," she said. "But still, it's never enough."Budget requests from departmental directors exceeded available revenue. Department needs totaled more than $31 million while only $19 million is available to spend after debt service of $28 million is paid, Durel wrote in his budget message.
Requests for 80 additional employees and $5 million in capital improvements to the courthouse, jail and other facilities were not funded in the proposed budget, Lalumia said.
For this reason, Durel proposed two new taxes be placed on the Nov. 7 ballot for voter approval: A 1-cent sales tax in the city for roads and drainage and a parishwide property tax of an undetermined amount to build a new parish courthouse and renovation of the existing parish courthouse.
The Lafayette Fire Department is budgeted to receive some major improvements. The proposed budget includes $500,000 to demolish and rebuild Fire Station No. 4 on Alexander Street. "It's falling apart," Fire Chief Robert Benoit said Wednesday. Once the budget is adopted in November, officials will begin architectural designs for a new station at that location. "We're not trying to do anything fancy," Benoit said.
The fire department also is in line for two new fire trucks, a $750,000 aerial truck and an aging pumper truck. One of the vehicles will replace a reserve truck so old that parts are no longer available. The aerial truck's boom no longer operates, so it is used only to carry men and equipment, not to fight fires in multi-story buildings, Benoit said.
In preparing the 2006-07 budget, Lalumia projected a 7 percent increase in city sales tax collections over 2004-05 actual collections, or about 9.7 percent more than reflected in the 2005-06 budget.
Parish sales taxes also are showing growth, a 25 percent increase in the current fiscal year compared with last year, Lalumia said. The proposed budget projects $5.3 million in parish sales tax receipts, 5.4 percent above 2004-05 or 2 percent more than 2005-06.