City came in under budget for fiscal year

By: NICHOLAS JAGNEAUX
Staff Reporter

Calling it a “great thing”, certified public accountant Dana Quebedeaux extolled the Ville Platte city budget at the City Council’s June regular meeting earlier this week.
Quebedeaux reported that the City came in more than $373,000 under budget for the fiscal year coming to a close at the end of the month. In addition, she proposed to the Council next fiscal year’s budget showing a nearly $813,000 surplus.
The proposed budget for next year includes an ambitious list of capital improvements being planned by Mayor Jennifer Vidrine. The proposed budget was introduced Tuesday evening. The Council voted to hold a special meeting on Friday, June 26, to adopt the budget. A public hearing will be held at 9:45 am, with the special meeting to be held at 10:00 am.
Vidrine shared some other good financial news with the Council. For the fifteenth straight month, the sales tax collection has increased. The April 2015 collection reflected a nearly 6% increase from a year ago.
“I would like to thank all of the city’s merchants for making Ville Platte such an attractive place to shop,” Vidrine said. “And, I would like to thank the consumers for choosing to spend their money here at home.”
The Council approved Vidrine’s request for up to $5,000 to spend on a hotel market study. Vidrine is currently in discussions with four national chains about building a new hotel in Ville Platte. The chains are Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Courtyard by Marriott, and Comfort Inn.
“I’m tired of sending visitors to Opelousas or Eunice to spend the night because we don’t have enough hotel room capacity,” Vidrine said.
She said that the major chains will not consider any further discussions without the feasibility study. She is proposing a study for a 100-room hotel that includes a large conference room for meetings or other events.
The Council accepted two proposed ordinances, both of which will be voted on during the July 14 regular meeting. The first ordinance prohibits the theft, tampering, or destruction of utility meters and transmission devices.
According to Vidrine, “There is a huge water theft problem” in Ville Platte. She said that people are directly tying into residential water lines; and they are even stealing water using buckets. Most of the theft occurs between 1:00 and 4:00 am, when people are sleeping.
The other ordinance would allow the City to assess a collection fee on outstanding debts referred to a collection agency. Vidrine said that the ordinance will allow the collection agency to collect a fee of up to 30 percent of the outstanding debts. She said that currently there is over $500,000 worth of outstanding debt that needs to be collected.
There will be a public hearing on both ordinances, starting at 4:30 pm, before the July 14 meeting.
City Engineer notified the Council that MMR Communications was chosen to supply the wireless Community Crime Cameras that will be installed throughout the city. He also said that Phase 4 of the water line project, taking place in the southwest corner of the city, has begun.
In other news, the Council selected the Ville Platte Gazette to be the official municipal journal for the upcoming year. It granted a retail liquor permit to Brandy Joubert, owner of Crawfish Corner at 2252 W. Main Street.