Parish audit report ‘clean’; Mathews bemoans lack of broadband in District 1

The St. Mary Parish Council received a report on the financial state of the parish for fiscal year 2015 at their meeting Wednesday after a representative from an accounting firm delivered the results of an independent audit report that indicated appropriate accounting practices were undertaken by the staff.
Guy Pitts, of Pitts and Matte C.P.A. of Morgan City, was on hand to give the council the highlights of the financial audit.
The council received a clean audit opinion, Pitts said.
Pitts indicated that in parish internal control and compliance there were no internal control deficiencies and no items of non-compliance. “We found no weaknesses,” he said.
Pitts said there were also no findings when it came to compliance with internal control and compliance of major federal programs.
There were several recommendations made in the audit report as to where improvements could be made to parish operations.
Under the sanitation section, the reports stated: “Steps have been taken that should reduce operation cost in future years by approximately $400,000 annually and that will increase revenue by approximately $100,000 annually. However, ¾-percent sales tax collections decreased by approximately $570,000. Probably will need to consider fee increases in the sanitation fund.”
In small animal control, the report noted “(an) operating loss has increased over the last four years to approximately $200,000 primarily due to a decrease in fees received. Five years ago fees covered 60 percent of operating costs now cover only 40 percent.”
Operation and maintenance of the parish jail “in 2010 jail operations and debt payments funded by the Council were approximately $500,000. In 2015, the jail operating deficit plus debt payment costs has increased to approximately $1.7 million annually.”
Pitt also made a point of highlighting one parish entity he said was paying its own way despite still being subsidized by the parish at a rate of $250,000 annually.
“The golf course is the most effective of any parish owned recreational facility at funding its operating costs through user fees,” according to the audit.
After the audit report from Pitt, the next portion of the council meeting included a plea from a community member for the council to try and shift resources to an area he claimed was being underserved by the parish government. Pastor Benjamin Grimm said road maintenance resources needed to be brought to bear to deal with a situation that, he said, has been going on for years.
Grimm said two streets, Eve Street and Inez Street in Sorrel, have received some attention but recently have been left in a state of disrepair and were unfinished.
“I’m here for concrete but I’ll take asphalt,” Grimm said. “Eve Street and Inez Street were graded down to a rock road. It’s intolerable to drive down the street. You have a cloud of dust following you. When we wash our cars, it’s like placing sandpaper on your car. People in the community have been complaining about their air conditioners being clogged with dust. I’m asking that something be done. Other than patchwork.”
Councilman Rev. Craig Mathews, who represents the area in the parish where the two streets in question are located, said he wanted to know why the roads were in the condition they are and how decisions were made about which streets to spend parish resources on.
St. Mary Parish Chief Administrative Officer Henry “Bo” LaGrange said decisions about which roads to work on were made according to analysis made by engineers and budget constraints. He said the roads in question were deemed by experts to be not in need of immediate, complete overhaul.
Mathews questioned the analysis and said he nearly had an automobile accident while travelling one of the roads in question due to its condition.
Mathews also had another message for the council regarding what he claimed, was a lack of critical resources involving certain parts of the parish, some of which he represents. Mathews said in this day and age no community members should be without broadband internet service.
“District No. 1 is among the few residences within this parish, perhaps among the few in this state and the nation that is without access to broadband internet,” Mathews said. “Still today, we are a community that does not have access to broadband internet. There are children who go home every day with homework assignments, and because the households do not have a broadband internet signal, are not able to perform those homework assignments.”
Mathews said the issue goes back years when the parish entered into an agreement with Cox Communications without making sure internet service would be available to all parish residents. He called upon the council and parish administration to urge a representative from Cox to come before the council and explain the situation and to also consider other internet service options if Cox was not willing to establish infrastructure that would ensure broadband internet access parish-wide.
“If I had been on that police jury, there is no way I would’ve sat in this room and deliberated a contract or negotiated a contract with a cable provider or any vendor that does not demonstrate that they can provide services to every single household in my parish,” Mathews said. “But that was done. It was the wrong decision to make and we are still paying for it 25 years later. It burns me up. I’m challenging us tonight to put our heads and our hearts together to find a solution.”
Members of the St. Mary Parish administration indicated they would pursue contact with Cox Communications in the future.
In other business, the council adopted an ordinance declaring an abandonment of the right-of-way on Michael Street in Centerville, and another authorizing the parish president to enter into a hangar lease agreement with Stanley Don Abney.
The council also received financial statements from Fire Protection District No. 1 and Mosquito Control District No. 1.
There was also an allocation of $2,000 from Wards 5 and 8 three-tenth percent sales tax fund to Recreation District No. 4 for the Patterson Girls Softball League and an allocation of $2,000 from Wards 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7 three-tenth percent sales tax fund to the Teche Action Clinic for the “Back to School Community Health and Wellness Fair.”
Councilman Mathews was also nominated and accepted an appointment to the St. Mary Parish Substance Abuse and Mental Health Advisory Committee to replace former Councilman Albert Foulcard.