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Iowa council fails to adopt 2025-26 operating budget after contentious police-funding debate
Summary
After public pleas and council debate over proposed cuts to the police department, the Town of Iowa council did not adopt the operating budget for fiscal year 2025'026; the motion to adopt recorded no yeas, three nays and two abstentions.
The Town of Iowa council failed to adopt the operating budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2025, after a heated budget hearing and council discussion on June 9.
At a public budget hearing earlier in the evening, Chief of Police Keith Vincent and more than a dozen residents urged the council not to reduce police funding, saying cuts would impair public safety. "These reductions would harm department operations," Chief Vincent said during public comment, urging the council to preserve funding for patrol and staffing. Council Member Julie Fontenot said she "will not vote to cut the police department budget tonight." Alan Weishampel, a resident, urged the council to adopt the budget that night and then have the mayor and police chief meet to consider amendments to restore police funding.
During the regular meeting the council considered Ordinance 2025-03, the town's operating budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2025. A motion to adopt the ordinance, moved by Council Member Daniel Hennigan and seconded by Council Member Joe Becnel, failed by the following recorded vote: Yeas: None; Nays: Daniel Hennigan, Vernessa Guillory, and Julie Fontenot; Abstain: Joe Becnel and Gerald Guidry. Mayor Douglas Watkins presided over the vote. Because the ordinance did not receive affirmative approval, the council did not adopt the 2025'026 operating budget that night.
The record shows council members discussed past use of the town's savings to cover recurring general-fund expenses and differing internal calculations about how much to allocate to police operations. Council Member Daniel Hennigan described his efforts to reconcile budgeted and requested amounts but did not move an alternative ordinance on the floor.
Next steps were not specified in the meeting record; council members and staff did not set a date for reconvening on the budget during the June 9 session. The failure to adopt the operating budget leaves the town without an enacted ordinance establishing revenues and appropriations for the 2025-26 fiscal year until the council takes further action.
