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Treasurer reviews draft 2024/25 budget; plans amendment to fix sales-tax transfer error
Summary
At a Natchitoches Parish Council work session, finance staff walked through the 2024/25 draft budget, explained that a local sales-tax is legally dedicated first to solid waste, and said a budget amendment will be presented to correct a mis-entered transfer amount.
The parish's finance presenter reviewed the proposed 2024/25 budget and told the council the local sales-tax line is legally dedicated to solid waste and any remainder can be moved to highway projects. "By the proposition, we have to fund solid waste, and then if anything's left over, we can move it to the highway," the presenter said.
The presenter described the standard budget format used for Legislative Auditor (LLA) review — last year's actuals, current-year projections and the coming year's request — and flagged one notable bookkeeping error in the draft. The presenter said the amount budgeted to transfer to solid waste was recorded incorrectly and stated, "So I'm gonna be presenting y'all a budget amendment to correct it." The finance office said the amendment will be introduced in September when the formal budget is presented for introduction.
Council members asked for detail on several revenue lines, including payments in lieu of taxes for federal forest land and state refunds for fuel, and the presenter said those are difficult to predict and may require mid-year amendments. The treasurer's office also noted it will transfer $150,000 from the general fund to the capital outlay account to build reserves for an anticipated road project; staff described capital outlay as a restricted account that cannot be moved without parish or council approval.
The session included an extended examination of wage and temporary-worker projections. Staff said temporary-worker spending rose from roughly $39,005.81 last year to about $59,044 so far this year, and walked through a scenario analysis showing the cost of a $2-per-hour raise for about 60 solid-waste workers could increase annual payroll costs by roughly $156,000. The presenter cautioned the figure is an estimate and depends on final staffing and hours.
What happens next: finance staff said they will prepare a budget amendment to correct the sales-tax transfer line and will present the full draft budget for introduction in September, and they offered to provide the detailed budget-to-actual reports council members requested.
