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Assumption Parish approves trash rate rise to $30, removes frozen accounts; officials note FEMA/DOTD MOU and tight fund balance
Summary
The police jury approved raising the monthly garbage rate from $25 to $30 per household and voted to eliminate 'frozen' customer accounts effective Jan. 1, 2025. Officials said the solid-waste fund faces a shortfall and discussed a state MOU that would allow parish crews to pick up debris on state right-of-way but leaves the parish responsible for a 25% match until FEMA reimbursement.
The Assumption Parish Police Jury approved an increase in the monthly residential garbage rate from $25 to $30 and voted to eliminate so-called "frozen" customer accounts, a change jurors set to take effect Jan. 1, 2025. The motion was moved and seconded, put to a voice vote and carried.
Administrator remarks to the jury laid out the budget strain driving the decision. Speaker 4 presented estimated 2025 solid-waste collections at about $2,500,000 and said 2024 expenses were roughly $2,700,000. The current contract alone is about $2,400,000; other costs such as audit fees and staffing time for operating the parish dump at Ezekiel also reduce the fund balance. An annual ARC contract (cited at $134,000) was projected to rise by 3% to about $138,000 for 2025. With the numbers presented, Speaker 4 said a no-change budget would leave an ending fund balance near $30,000, excluding additional items not yet added.
Revenue scenarios discussed: Speaker 4 estimated a $3-per-household increase would produce about $309,600 a year, while a $5 increase would yield about $516,000. Jurors debated whether to adopt the smaller increase now or a larger figure to better cover future contract increases; several jurors warned that repeated, small increases would eventually require returning to the jury for further adjustments.
A separate item concerned a memorandum of understanding (MOU) from the state Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) to permit parish crews to pick up debris on state right-of-way. Speaker 6 explained the parish would be responsible initially for a 25% match of cleanup costs and could file for FEMA reimbursement of 75% later, but must cover that 25% until reimbursement is received. Jurors noted the parish currently lacks the immediate funds to cover such a match and asked staff to press the state delegation and DOTD for follow-up on remaining state pickups.
Jurors directed staff to notify residents of the rate change by including notice on billing statements and social media; staff also agreed to include the change on the next printed billing cycle. The jury approved the rate change and removal of frozen accounts by voice vote. No additional ordinance language or fee schedule was adopted during the meeting; staff were given direction to implement the change and prepare billing notices.
Next steps: staff to prepare and distribute billing inserts and social-media notices, pursue clarity with DOTD on outstanding state right-of-way debris, and report back on final budget and implementation details.
