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Iberia Parish parks director outlines $4.0M budget, cites staff limits and big capital needs
Summary
Parks director presented a $4,009,121 proposed budget that relies on $872,721 from fund balance for capital improvements (including roughly $660,000 in AC and system replacements), a $60,000 bond for an RV park, and an ongoing plan to shift maintenance of some sites back to parish government because of staffing limits.
Tammy Bridal, director of Iberia Parish Parks and Recreation, presented the department’s proposed 2026 budget to the finance committee on Oct. 20, saying the plan leans on both projected sales‑tax receipts and a planned draw on reserves.
"We're gonna base it on $200,000 per month," Bridal said of the sales‑tax projection, and she told the committee the department expects to increase investment interest collections to $85,000. The total Parks and Recreation budget presented was $4,009,121, with an intended $872,721 withdrawal from fund balance to cover capital work and other items.
Bridal said that withdrawal includes roughly $660,000 earmarked for capital improvements — notably HVAC replacements — plus a replacement vehicle for the maintenance shop and a $60,000 bond tied to the RV park. "We have several ACs that we had issues with this year…we're replacing them with the new system," she said, explaining that older units require full replacement rather than short‑term repairs.
The director told members that limited maintenance staffing has prompted an operational change: two sites (Lydia Veterans and the new Iberia City Park) will be turned back to parish government for maintenance while Parks will retain rental scheduling and event calendar duties. "We only have five maintenance guys, and that building has to be touched three and sometimes four times a week," Bridal said, noting the workload was unsustainable for the department.
Several members pressed Bridal about rising lawn‑care and utility costs across multiple parks. Bridal said contractors reported they were losing money, so staff solicited new proposals. She told the committee that some line items rose materially — for example, new soft quotes put Coteau’s lawn care at about $75,002 — and pledged to pursue competitive bids.
On lighting, Bridal described a staged approach to LED conversion: make necessary ground‑level repairs and replace individual fixtures with LED as they fail rather than fund a full system replacement immediately. "As they go out, put up a LED and keep going until maybe we could redo them all," she said.
Board members urged consideration of larger, coordinated LED upgrades for heavily used fields and suggested exploring utility incentives. Bridal said she would follow up with engineers’ estimates and with information on potential utility programs.
The committee did not take any formal votes on the budget at the meeting; Bridal said some capital‑outlay requests remain pending and that final adoption would occur at a subsequent session.
