Finance committee reports stronger sales-tax receipts, refers five budget and capital ordinances to full council

St. Tammany Parish Finance Committee members on Thursday reviewed monthly finance reports showing higher-than-expected sales-tax receipts and considered several budget and capital amendments before voting to refer five ordinances to the full parish council.

Finance presenter Annie said sales tax District 3 collections for July were “approximately $6,700,000,” an increase of about 8% from July of last year, and that the parish is projecting roughly $79 million in remittances from Sales Tax District 3 for the year. She later clarified the parish’s broader estimate: the total tax for Sales Tax District 3 is about $95.4 million, the municipalities’ share about $15 million, and the remittance to parish government roughly $80 million for the year.

Those receipts, Annie said, help offset shortfalls and timing differences in other revenue lines. She told the committee that some funds — including certain lighting districts and animal services — currently show negative projected available fund balances because cash receipts have not yet arrived for the year, and that the parish had transferred $7 million from capital project funds into the general fund earlier in the year to avoid a negative projection.

The committee also reviewed a package of five ordinances (ordinance calendar numbers 7968–7972) summarized on the agenda: - Ordinance 7968: Amend 2025 grant budget (Grant Budget Amendment No. 9). The item would allocate roughly $1.2 million in unobligated opioid-abatement settlement funds to programs recommended by the local task force, including prosecutor and drug-court staffing, a navigator position, veteran housing/transportation, a local RFP for community organizations, and a teen text line. The amendment also records new grant awards from NEA ($15,000), LIHEAP (an additional ~$197,000 for FY2025 energy assistance bringing total LIHEAP funds for the year to about $1.7 million), Louisiana Housing Corporation emergency solutions ($107,000), Restore Act Louisiana unobligated funds ($5.5 million) for two utility projects, and state homeland security and emergency management awards. - Ordinance 7969 (Capital Improvement Amendment No. 23): Fund utility capital work, including $745,000 for the Ben Thomas Water interconnect design/construction and $7.6 million for Saint Joe Water consolidation (design, storage tank and well improvements, and main extensions). - Ordinance 7970 (Capital Improvement Amendment No. 24): Purchase homeland-security capital assets tied to a state award, including a trailer-mounted 20 kW generator and other equipment to support emergency response. - Ordinance 7971 (Capital Improvement Amendment No. 25): Add $30,000 to a development capital project to complete a land-use and mapping study to support resilient residential housing strategies, including flood-risk review and GIS updates. - Ordinance 7972 (Operating Budget Amendment No. 15): Increase utility expenditure budgets for five lighting districts (districts 1, 4, 11, 14 and 16) totaling $64,000, to be funded from each district’s fund balance because of increased electricity costs and, in some districts, additional lighting requests from constituents.

After discussion and questions from committee members about fund balances and the timing of certain revenues, the committee chair called for a motion to refer the five ordinances to the full council. The motion carried with the committee in favor.

The finance presenter said the parish will provide more detail on municipal breakdowns of sales-tax sharing as work continues; she told the committee staff is working to assemble about 90% of that city-by-city information and will report back when the remainder is available. The parish also plans to produce an “estimate to complete” line on future fund-balance reports so council members can see projected year-end figures in addition to actuals-to-date.

Committee members asked staff to include a short, one-page summary of the cost-allocation and budget impacts when the full budget is released next week. The ordinances referred to the council will appear on the full council agenda for consideration.