City-Parish President Joey Durel’s proposed $611 million budget for the fiscal year that begins Nov. 1 is up for final adoption Thursday evening by the City-Parish Council. The budget includes line-item appropriations for the nearly completed Acadiana Center for the Arts as well as Festival International de Louisiane; a new funding model for both arts/culture and social service external agencies; and a plan to purchase the horse farm from UL through a cooperative endeavor agreement with Community Foundation of Acadiana.
Those proposals, per tradition, are likely to face opposition for at least a couple of councilmen.
Durel’s proposal that Lafayette Consolidated Government purchase the horse farm in a partial land-swap deal would give the university the 8-acre Youth Park that adjoins the campus behind the Johnston Street fire station.
The horse farm appraised for $5.7 million last year, and Youth Park in the past was worth about a half million dollars. For this proposed transaction, both properties will have to be reappraised, but local government is looking at paying about $5 million for the land over a 10-year period. The deal calls for creation of a cooperative endeavor agreement that includes a 99-year lease with CFA, which would raise the money to develop and maintain the park.
Under the new external-agency funding model, money used to fund the agencies through a competitive application process would come from franchise fees paid to LCG by Cox Communications and Lafayette Utilities System’s Fiber service. Currently, those entities generate about $840,000 in franchise fees annually. Of that sum, $515,000 would be allocated to the AcA, with $160,000 earmarked for distribution by the AcA staff to other arts and culture providers in the form of grants; at least $70,000 will go to Festival International de Louisiane, and the remaining $285,000 will underwrite the AcA’s operating expenses. Arts/culture providers that receive grants through the AcA will face a $17,500 cap — a $10,000 cap for operational funding and a $7,500 cap for programming.
Also under the new model, LCG’s Community Development Department will appoint a 5-person panel to award funding to nonprofit social service providers, with a $25,000 cap for each agency receiving funding.
The CPC meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. in the council auditorium.
[Editor’s Note: Prior reporting by Leslie Turk was included in this article.]
MAY 22 This post on Bayou Buzz by Jeff Crouere urges the defeat of a bill that would grant modest pay increases over the next several years to the state's judges and clerks of court. The state is in no position to fund pay hikes, Crouere argues, with the pay increases costing a total of $9 million over several years. It sends the wrong message to the (proverbial) hard-working people of Louisiana, he says.
MAY 22 The Advocate reports here that State Treasurer John Kennedy is complaining about a meeting of the corporation that oversees the state's tobacco settlement. The Governor wanted it restructured, and he has some support, but not a lot. The corporation agreed with his plan, but Kennedy didn't, and it appears that the meeting was noticed in a manner completely different than that of all previous meetings. Kennedy's given to hyperbole, but in this case the fish don't smell too fresh.
MAY 22 This post was written the day after the second line shooting in NOLA, by Brentin Mock, a friend of Deb "Big Red" Cotton, a blogger who was shot in the back. It is a raw, emotional piece of writing, something the writer obviously felt he needed to get off his chest. But it raises questions that can't be easily dismissed, and might give an insight into where the source of these events truly is.
MAY 22 In this Baton Rouge Business Report post, Rolfe McCollister considers the privatization of bus service in Baton Rouge. After decades of under-funding, its a mess, and although a tax (partially) passed last year, improvement hasn't happened yet. McCollister apparently feels it is time to let private business get in on the transit business.
MAY 22 In this Advocate story, Carencro Police Chief Carlos Stout says the recent federal indictment of a strip club owner is all wrong. The indictment alleges that drugs and prostitution went on with impunity because club staff made arrangements with "local" police. Stout says it never happened, and while his cops do work security in the parking lot, they're not allowed inside.
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MAY 22 In this post in The Lens, Mark Moseley comments on the rhetoric Gov. Jindal employed in trying to save his tax "reform" package. One interesting point concerns Jindal's use of his brother, Nikesh, in a little story. Nikesh left Louisiana because of his inability to get a decent job, the story goes, but the story won't hold water: Nikesh lives in DC, which has an income tax level comparable to Louisiana, Moseley says. If income taxes caused the dismal situation, it should exist in DC too. Right?
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