Guillory's proposed budget introduced at tonight's LCG meeting
LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) -- Mayor-President Josh Guillory will be introducing his fourth annual budget proposal at tonight’s parish council meeting.
This will be the first proposal Guillory has offered in an election year, and is the start of LCG’s summer budget hearings process spanning weeks before a finalized budget is passed in September.
Each July, the mayor-president proposes the coming year’s budget which the city and parish councils review and amend in public hearings over the following weeks.
At tonight’s meeting, raises, spending and revenue will be highlighted in Guillory's budget.
A significant raise for Lafayette Police Department officers was an election focus in 2019, and raises for the fire department and other employees resulted in a budget shortfall that led to layoffs and funding cuts in 2020.
Guillory’s administration is coming off a spending boom kept afloat since 2021 by LCG’s $86 million in federal stimulus money. With most of that money distributed, new projects could put the city at risk of running a deficit. Guillory did that last year for the first time in almost a decade with minimal impact on city cash reserves.
Post-pandemic tax revenue skyrocketed, surpassing estimates in Guillory’s previous budgets. It is unclear whether that spike in revenue will continue, so the councils and the administration will have to square its anticipated revenue with any extra election year expenditures.
After being flagged by auditors for letting Lafayette Utilities System suspend late fees and disconnections during last summer's natural gas price increase, Guillory will be proposing an ordinance to give LUS Director Jeff Stewart the authority to suspend late fees and service disconnections during emergencies or circumstances that are subject to restrictions.
An ordinance regulating short-term rentals in residential single-family zoning districts will be considered for final adoption at tonight's meeting. Another proposed ordinance that would prohibit all short-term rentals in residential areas has been tabled until the Aug. 22 meeting.