Lafayette council trims budget; travel, raises cut
By
KEVIN BLANCHARD
Acadiana bureau
Published: Aug 29, 2006
LAFAYETTE — In a flurry of activity Monday, the City-Parish Council made a series of proposals to trim its own budget of travel and meeting expenses and future pay raises. The moves all came within a 10-minute span Monday at a hearing in which the council looked at the proposed budget for the next fiscal year.
While budget hearings can be generally perfunctory, when it came to their own budget, councilmen broke out the red markers. Councilman Louis Benjamin struck first, proposing to cut $4,000 the council uses mostly to fund pre-meeting meals for councilmen and administrative staff. Another councilman objected, meaning the proposal will have to be voted on when the council votes at the end of September to adopt the budget.
Councilman Bobby Badeaux responded by one-upping Benjamin’s idea by proposing to cut the $4,000 a year each councilman is allocated for travel and expense reimbursements. “Let’s make a big impact, let’s do 9 times 4,000 and see what we got,” Badeaux said.
Without objection, Councilman Randy Menard cut a records clerk position that’s been vacant since its last occupant retired.
Councilman Dale Bourgeois got an objection to his proposal to begin funding again a consultant position to run the Rebuild Lafayette North Committee.
Councilman Chris Williams targeted the $13,000 budgeted for the council’ use for Mardi Gras beads for parades. The cut gained an objection.
Bourgeois made a motion that the council has to vote separately on giving its members raises, instead of lumping those raises in with the rest of city-parish employees. That vote would take place at the end of September, when the council adopts the new budget.
Councilman Lenwood Broussard responded by proposing that any councilman who doesn’t want to accept a raise “if awarded” can reject the raise by writing a letter to the city-parish by Nov. 1. Broussard then took it a step further, proposing that any councilman who votes “no” on a council pay raise would not be able to get the raise if it passes. Councilmen have voted no in the past for a raise, but collected anyway, Broussard said.
Bourgeois countered Broussard by proposing that anyone who votes to cut travel and expense money would have to forgo that benefit if it survives.
Story originally published in The Advocate