The New Iberia City Council held a five-hour marathon meeting last night, rotating through department heads to go through each department’s budget for the coming fiscal year. Council members also took the opportunity to ask more general questions about department operation.

Raises

The first item the council tackled was salaries. It unanimously voted to raise city employees’ salaries by 5 percent, in addition to the 4 percent added earlier this year, for a total of 9 percent this year. Some employees would get an additional raise if their salaries are still not up to the minimum recommended in a recent study.

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Mayor Hilda Curry said this would ensure no city employee would be making less than $7.25 an hour.

Proposed raises of $2,000 apiece for department heads encountered more opposition.

“Department heads get no overtime ever,” said Curry. “Many times employees are making more than them (with overtime).”

No department heads, for example, were paid for the work they did during Hurricane Gustav. Curry said all stayed during the storm.

Council members’ opposition had to do with the fact that the raise would be for all department heads, not just for those that do more overtime.

“Why not do it case by case?” asked Councilman Ernest Wilson.

Curry said she finds merit pay difficult.

The council decided to table the issue until the next budget meeting.

The council also unanimously rejected a proposed additional $250 a month car allowance for themselves, though they approved it for Curry.

Curry noted the council has not gotten a raise in at least nine years.

Total salaries and benefits for city employees were projected in the draft version of the budget to increase by $918,016 to $10,938,204.

Capital Outlay requests

City capital outlay requests from council members and department heads total a proposed $6,790,299 for the coming fiscal year.

Some of those projects were repeats from last year. Curry said some projects did not get completed because though they were put out for bid, the city did not receive any. Such was the case for sidewalks projects including Ann and Lombard Streets. They will be put out for bid again in the coming fiscal year, along with a sidewalk from City Park to Lewis Street.

Other notable requests include $150,000 for a new street sweeper, $56,000 for a traffic signal at Lewis and Dale, $100,000 for improvements to the pool at City Park, $20,000 for reworking and aerating Devil’s Pond, $300,000 for a new fire truck, for which $200,000 was saved in the past two years, $10,000 for Christmas decorations at City Hall, $385,628 for building improvements to the Bayou Teche Museum and $1,572,600 for Hopkins Street improvements.

Councilman Dan Doerle and Mayor Pro Tem Freddie DeCourt will both evaluate possible improvements to the bathrooms at Bouligny Plaza, for which $30,000 was set aside in the current draft version of the budget.

Curry said she would prefer to wait until after the closing ceremony for the Hopkins Streets charettes before budgeting any more money for the Hopkins Street area. The closing ceremony is from 5 to 7 p.m. today at the West End Park, with an hour-long social beginning at 4 p.m.

State and capital outlay requests include $17,000,000 for the multi-purpose center, $1,000,000 for the wastewater department, $18,500,000 for rail grade separation and $4,000,000 for Armenco canal drainage work.

Curry said the parish will also request money for the Armenco canal. This request is new; most others, she said, are repeated requests.

In non-capital outlay requests, the council also agreed to set aside $500,000 a year in mosquito control revenue for a small analysis and resulting 4-year plan and implementation of city-wide drainage solutions from Fenstermaker and Associates. Curry said the company already has a large amount of information about the city’s drainage.

New beginning

The new fiscal year begins Nov. 1, the date on which all changes would come into effect.

A second meeting, at which the council will address matters that had not yet been priced for this meeting, is scheduled at 5 p.m. Oct. 23. There will be a special meeting Oct. 28 to formally adopt the budget.

Although this meeting was open to the public, no members of the public attended. Newly elected District 6 councilman Calvin Begnaud, who will assume office Jan. 1, attended part of the meeting. Councilman Raymond “Shoe-do” Lewis, who previously thought he would be unable to attend, was given the day off by his employer. Councilman Rocky Romero was absent.