Parish takes no action on fire department allocations

St. Mary Parish Council members took no action on a request by Franklin Mayor Raymond Harris Jr. for allocation of fire department funds.
Harris had written parish government requesting Franklin’s $11,534 annual payment out of the three-quart cent sales tax fund for the years 2010-2014. He also requested this year’s allocation, which was paid.
All fire departments in the parish receive the annual outlay, but due to a change of staff Franklin did not formally request its funding because they were not aware of a requirement to do so.
Also, Patterson, Amelia, Morgan City, Berwick and Cypremort Point did not request or receive their allocations in some years, Chief Administrative Officer Henry “Bo” LaGrange reported.
A total of $253,748 in unallocated funding was listed:
Patterson VFD: $34,602
Amelia VFD: $11,534
Morgan City FD: $57,670
Franklin FD: $57,670
Berwick VFD: $34,602
Cypremort VFD: $57,670
LaGrange said the three-quarter cent sales tax fund currently holds a balance of just over $500,000.
Departments also receive allocations from gaming revenues received by the parish and in similar cases were not requested or allocated during some fiscal years. Patterson, Amelia and Berwick would have received $15,000 total; Morgan City, Franklin and Cypremort $25,000 total; and Baldwin $20,000 total.
That’s another $140,000 in unclaimed allocations.
There are also unclaimed allocations for Patterson and Berwick of $9,000 each from the Wards 5 and 8 three-tenth sales tax fund.
And the Wards 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7 three-tenths sales tax fund of $15,000 each to Franklin, Baldwin and Cypremort.
LaGrange recommended the council wait until August and the administration’s first budget amendment to get a better accounting of existing revenues.
“The administration had no intention of position to reallocate any of these funds,” LaGrange said. “When the request came from the City of Franklin, that’s when we brought it before the council.”
Councilman David Hanagriff said the administration should have notified fire departments the money was available. “I have a hard time knowing that we didn’t notify them over all these years,” he said.
“We should wait until August and see how sales tax revenues do,” Councilman Kevin Voisin said.
Councilman Steve Bierhorst asked if departments were ever notified that they were required to formally request funds. LaGrange said he believed they were aware of it, because many of the parish’s 11 departments did formally request the funding.
“This is just shocking to me, the amount of money here,” Bierhorst said.
LaGrange said that the parish’s separate allocation for fire trucks are always requested.
The council took no action.