Plaquemines Port commission adopts 2025 budget with amendments, approves personnel and capital-line changes

Plaquemines Parish’s Port Harbor and Terminal District adopted a revised 2025 budget on a series of unanimous voice votes, approving amendments that reallocated expenses, created an IT manager position, and increased several leadership salary lines.

Director Tillerson, presenting the port’s budget message, said the budget is balanced and emphasized strategic priorities tied to the port’s 2024 master plan, including a five‑year capital improvement plan and a push to “turn bigger ships faster” to attract more customers. Tillerson also noted the port’s operating revenue comes from “tariffs, leases and grants” rather than direct taxpayer funding and that the port carried an unrestricted balance in the multimillion‑dollar range going into 2025.

Tommy Serpass, who led the line‑by‑line walkthrough of the budget book, told commissioners that overall 2025 revenues are lower than 2024 largely because an $18 million ferry‑ramp grant was rolled out of the 2025 budget. Serpass presented detailed line items for tariffs (budgeted at roughly $7.09 million), ferry toll projections (conservatively budgeted at $200,000 for 2025), lease and rent revenue (including several Venture Global leases), and a proposed $4,000,000 land‑acquisition line funded in part from a Port Land Fund that receives 20% of tariff receipts.

On capital planning, commissioners reviewed a five‑year list of projects that included a temporary booster‑pump allowance, an economic‑impact analysis, and funding for an ISO certification process. Tillerson described the ISO pursuit as a “continuous improvement” program involving internal and external audits to tighten policies, procedures and risk management.

Commissioners also spent significant time on ferry operations, staffing and maintenance. Staff and commissioners said the ferry system is a public service that operates at a loss and that the port is pursuing grants, a special entry rate (SER) and other pay adjustments to recruit and retain ferry crews rather than rely long term on temporary staffing agencies. Mr. Brown and other staff described efforts to reclassify maintenance costs and to increase preventive maintenance to reduce emergency repairs.

Votes and amendments

Serpass read eight budget amendments aloud and the commission took individual roll calls (voice offering/second and unanimous votes were recorded). Key approved changes included:

- Deleting and defunding the deputy director position (amendment 1) — passed 8–0; the commission said the work will be absorbed by newly created C‑suite roles. - Increasing the executive director’s salary to reflect a recently negotiated contract (amendment 2) — passed 8–0. - Communications adjustments: reduced trophies/engraving and technical support lines and increased sponsorships (amendment 3) — passed 8–0. - General operations reallocations that reduced overall general operations expense (amendment 4) — passed 8–0. - Land acquisition reclassification: decrease legal support and increase appraisal professional services (amendment 5) — passed 8–0. - Deleting the vacant classified IT analyst position (amendment 6) — passed 8–0. - Deleting a vacant GIS analyst position in the rescue boats division (amendment 7) — passed 8–0. - Creating and funding an unclassified IT manager position (amendment 8) and approving an increase for the CFO salary line (separate amendment later in the sequence) — passed 8–0.

Serpass reported that, after the amendments, the net effect of the changes reduces expenses and will add approximately $2,170,039.93 to the fund balance. All recorded amendment votes in the transcript were unanimous at 8–0 (one commissioner had been absent earlier in the meeting).

Why the meeting mattered

The budget contains a mix of near‑term operational fixes (reclassifying maintenance and professional‑services coding, filling critical vacancies, and adjusting insurance and utilities costs tied to the port’s newly acquired administration building) and longer‑range planning (a five‑year capital plan and steps to pursue ISO certification). The land‑acquisition line, funded partly from tariffs earmarked to the Port Land Fund, signals continued property purchases tied to port expansion and rezoning discussions for parcels identified in the master plan.

What’s next

Staff said the tariff fee change will be brought back to the full commission at the December meeting for a separate vote. Commissioners adjourned and planned to reconvene at 11:00 a.m. to continue any remaining agenda items. The budget book and the commission’s list of amendments will be the official record for specific line‑item amounts and the final ordinance language to implement the 2025 budget.