How should LCG spend your money?
LCG’s budget is a vision statement and an action plan. What matters then, is what we believe our priorities should be. What are yours?
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budget
Feuding judges, budget battles, questionable expenses gridlock Lafayette City Court
As tensions flared between Lafayette’s two city court judges, Odinet and Saloom, the Louisiana Supreme Court stepped in and appointed a special judge to serve as tie-breaker over administrative matters of the court.
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BIG QUESTION: Should Lafayette subsidize golf?
Lafayette has historically made public golf a top priority. Is that really a good idea?
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GEOFF DAILY: Lafayette mayor-presidents have long used vetoes to appropriate money. That may be illegal.
Legislative bodies appropriate money, not the executive branch. But that’s exactly what’s been happening at LCG for more than a decade in conflict with a pair of attorney general opinions.
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OPINION: Fueled by debt, Guillory’s budget proposes largest capital spending spree in city’s history
Mayor-President Guillory wants the City Council to approve a $406 million five year capital improvement program that would saddle the city with $180 million in new debt. Yet he hasn’t revealed plans, garnered public input, or addressed long-term maintenance liabilities for most of these projects. The City Council should tread carefully.
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OPINION: Guillory’s first proposed budget was too bearish, his second is too bullish
Projecting historically big increases in sales tax revenue, he is championing a quarter billion dollar increase in the city’s five-year capital outlay plan, including $132 million of new debt.
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COLUMN: Will dysfunction continue to define LCG in 2021?
There’s a Cold War between the mayor-president and the City Council that could flare up at any time. The city faces a slew of controversial issues, while the parish’s finances continue to teeter on the brink of collapse, and consolidation is put on trial. These are the major stories I’ll be tracking at LCG this year.
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COLUMN: Guillory’s austerity is budgeting for an alternate reality
While Lafayette’s economic forecast isn’t bright, it’s not near as dark as the mayor-president has made it out to be. That means the City Council can avoid drastic cuts.
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COLUMN: How bad is the city’s fiscal emergency?
It’s not surprising that the decision to shutter widely used cultural and community facilities has sparked significant public outcry. But it’s a choice — not a necessity.
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Council Preview: Sewage, drainage, budget snafus and changes to parks
The gist: This week’s council meetings include a number of items that will tee up bigger projects and decisions to come affecting everything from sewer capacity and Vermilion flooding to how the budgeting process will work and how parks will operate.
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