In The Red

Four million dollars.  That's the budget deficit for the City of Lake Charles for the coming fiscal year. In the current fiscal year, for the first time since anyone can remember, the City had to dip into the general fund in the amount of six million dollars to balance the budget.  This year is not as bad, but still the city forecasts a four million dollar deficit.  Mayor Randy Roach says it's in large part due to a decline in sales tax revenues.  The Mayor says they've come up with a "standstill budget" to deal with the problem, meaning no new programs and no new spending.  Roach says, "We had several vacant positions and we went ahead and took the liberty at this time to go ahead and eliminate those positions." Give us your thoughts about the city's budget deficit. The new fiscal year begins October 1, 2010.

Comments

[IMPEACH THE IDIOT NOW]

In the style of John Wayne: "Well by golly, that's a simple one Mr. mayor... just do what the good Mesiah of the white house would do and spend your way out of it, lil' dunkee...."

And yet another one by the Duke: "Life is hard. It's even harder when you're a clueless liberal"....

[Micky]

Must be nice to go on with buget that has a deficit. I wonder if I could do that and get by with it......

[Tom Jones]

I think most folks including me would rather see goverment bite the bullet. We as citizens have to suck it up and make do with what we got. Most of us can't afford a general fund. It takes all we can get to put food on the table and pay the bills. Vacations are out of the question. New cars, come on man!!!! I think there are more folks who make under $40,000 than thee are who make more. We suck it up and Bar b q in the back yard on oak limbs. tyhings like turkey necks and ham hocks. We don't have the luxry of a genreral fund. We hunt it or catch it if we want luxury. We suck it up and continue to support the rich and the poor. Our backs are laden. We are the guys out in the blood guts and the mud trying to keep this great country a float. I don't like the term middle class. I like the term working class. My general fund is in debt. Bite the bullet. Manage the funds you do have. Thats what the working man and women do.

[Orelse]

Duh ! If you are $4 Million in the RED , CUT OUT THE RED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!,

What part of Stupid do you NOT Understand , Randy Obama : ))))))))

[Mom]

I'm going to play devil's advocate here...

the minute the city starts cutting services to eliminate the "red" you people will be screaming from the roof tops.

Either you want a balanced budget or you want the city services...take your pick and then stick with it (ie -- no whining).

[itsonlyplaymoney]

In todays paper it states that the city is going to create a new job"assistant chief of police" WHY??? so they can pay a large salary to someone that Dixon wants to appoint.it was approved 7-0 by the city concil,Its these kinds of dumb decisions that make me, as a tax-payer chringe,That and those stupid $8,000.00+ palms on the seawall and they just added some more.Wonder what they cost.....This is to Impeachtheidiotnow you sound like an idiot and you know what they say if it quacks like a duck..you get the drift

[IMPEACH]

Wow! My feelings are so hurt that "it" would succum to calling one an "idiot"! If it's because of the whole "John Wayne" bit, then I'm really hurt! And if it's because you're a "clueless liberal" well then, I'm only too happy that you're so "quacked up" about it. If so, then perhaps a farting unicorn with wings of rainbow colors is more your style...

[Buck]

Having attended pubic hearings on the city budget in the past.This city under Roach, has a history of balancing the budget with the use of city savings fund money. This irresponsible management over the years has now grown to a 10 millon dollar mess. This dificit is projected to grow by another 5 millon next year, for a total of 15 million dollars in three years.The city council seems to be a sleep at the wheel as normal. City taxpayers should be outraged at our current elected officials. We need a change in city government from the top to the bottom. Lake Charles has a potential to a outstanding city. It will not achieve this without a change in government.

[Jake LeBrun]

The budget problems seem quite managable. $4 million is a significant, but not out-of-control deficit considering the projected general fund revenues of over $53 million. Especially since most of the revenues, about 60%, come from sales tax. When the economy picks up, and sales tax revenue increases, then the deficit may disappear. However, in the mean time, there is plenty of pork in the budget that can be cut. I concur with Buck, also. The transfers he references are band-aid solutions that are being used as systemic ones. What we need is a candidate that will run for office on the fact that he is a competant accountant, not a liberal or conservative.

[Bad American]

Just my two cents worth...But maybe if we actually got to see the budget, then we might better understand where the 4M deficit is coming from, is it due to city services, maintenance of the parks, police protection?
I like other people on this blog can not comprehend passing a budget already in the red, the Mayor and City Council should submit a balanced budget based on projected income from the upcoming year. If we don't have enough money to cover our expenses then we have some choices to make as a CITY. Raise taxes, cut spending, find other sources of income or a little of it all.
On the lighter side we could have car washes, sell candy bars and cookie dough, it works for the schools. And for the DA Gardners out there we could legalize and tax prostitution and marijuana this alone would solve our money issues no boarding state can offer that...

[Billy]

East McNeese street to no where land. Which way is this city growing. I guess the City Administration has a relatives that live out that way. I guess Country Club Road is not dangerous enough to fill in the ditches and widen it first. What kind of planning is that?P-- Poor, that's what kind it is.
Open ditches, especially Sale Road, west of Contraband Bayou. How many people are going to get killed on that section of road? If you run off the narrow road there, you are going to die for sure. But let's complete the road to no where East McNeese street. How many people travel Country Club Road per day. And what was the traffic count on the pasture for the new McNeese Street Road? I must have missed it.

[asap]

Just take it out of the off-budget investment pool and slush fund like the one that the treasurer John Kennedy runs, LAMP, that the City of Lake Charles keeps 'extra' money of ours. There be $$$millions in there....
See:
http://lamppool.com/pdf/LAMP_2007_AnnualReport.pdf

[Ed]

If the City Police and the sheriff Office
would stop using their Police cars for
Personnel use I'm sure the city would
save a bundle on fuel costs...

[S]

Mr. Mayor, Please stop spending money we don't have. They spend like there is no tomorrow, and then threaten to cut services if we don't vote to raise taxes !!!! No need to cut services, just don't overspend ! No more palm trees PLEASE ! No more new buildings PLEASE ! We can't afford it !!!! Our local government is looking alot like Washington D.C. !

[asap]

Wanna see da reel deel....budget and off budget...feast this:
http://www.cityoflakecharles.com/egov/docs/1270145035_197326.pdf

[elohssa]

Come on, Mayor Randy, I know you can do it.

Just raise taxes. Set a restaurant fee for out of towners. Pull a head tax on casino-goers. Push LCPD to write more tickets. Charge some more fees for city licenses.

[itsonlyplaymoney]

C'mon Elohssa dont give the out to lunch bunch any Ideas already they know how to spend that money,New city court,new asst. police chief,new palm trees, new sculpture,wider sidewalks for downtown,more landscaping for downtown,almost back to the walking mall downtown that didnt work or last..lord just give me something to buy.

[ChuckleHead]

randy [ˈrændɪ]
adj randier, randiest
1. Informal chiefly Brit
a. sexually excited or aroused
b. sexually eager or lustful

This is why Lake Chucky is in the red. The wrong head is in charge.

DUH!!

[Monica]

Publish the ENTIRE city budget online and let the citizens imput their suggestions for budget cutting. If they don't want to make the budget public ....vote all the jerks out!

[CTtcg]

Monica, the budget is online. A previous commentator posted the link. It's a PDF file in case you don't know. It's pretty long to read.

I agree with the posters who say we need a new mayor. Clearly he's not managing the city well, and Lake Charles could use some good leadership who will encourage other companies to come here. Progressive mayors across the country do that all the time. Mayor Roach was wrong to say that it's not the job of the city to create economic development, which he said about a month ago in the paper.

[Monica]

CT. The link is to the 2009 city budget. Where is a link to the so called stand still budget that Randy is pushing?

[CTtcg]

My apologies, Monica. This is the link to the 2010-2011 budget.

http://www.cityoflakecharles.com/egov/docs/1283271990_199401.pdf

[d]

The dumbing down of America is happening at an accelerated pace in Lake Charles ---- the politicians are no different. They have lost all understanding of the "common good". The almost famous White Building Scam comes to mind. For the taxpayers, we got screwed. For the well connected businessmen who profited, it was just a brilliant business deal. Its as though these crooks and politicians think there is no judgement day.