Bastrop council trims $1.4 million from Sales Tax District No. 1 budget after grant denials

Bastrop — The City Council on Tuesday adopted a set of amendments to the Sales Tax District No. 1 budget that reduce projected revenues by roughly $1.4 million after staff told the council that two grant-backed projects included in the draft budget were not funded.

Mayor Ricky Smith asked the council to consider seven amendments to the district’s FY budget, explaining staff had discovered that a competitive sidewalk grant from the Louisiana Department of Transportation and one LCDBG project were denied or not available. "That project was denied," a staff member said when the denial letter from DOTD was discussed.

The principal changes zeroed out placeholder revenue tied to the denied projects, removed the associated project appropriations and increased the street-drainage expense line to $253,000. Administration said the effect will be to return the unspent, anticipated money to the fund balance while still leaving available capacity for drainage projects identified by the city engineer.

Chad Fisher, a representative of the city engineer’s office, told the council the sewer-plant contract is under construction and that ongoing projects include pump replacements and clarifier repairs; he also said the city will continue asking the LCDBG consultant, Robbie Wax, whether any grant opportunities remain.

Council members debated whether anticipated grants should be included in the budget before money is received. Smith said the previous practice for some projects was to fund the whole work and seek reimbursement; going forward the administration said it will, where feasible, reserve only matching funds and avoid counting uncertain grant receipts in the bottom-line total.

The council moved the amendments and then voted to adopt Resolution No. 26-2135, approving the Sales Tax District No. 1 budget as amended. Roll call recorded affirmative votes from Districts B, C, D and E as read aloud by the clerk; the resolution was adopted and the amendments take effect as the city implements the amended FY plan.

Proceedings: The council asked staff to circulate engineer reports and a street-rating list to help prioritize projects; staff said additional details will be included in next month’s packet. The council set a follow-up schedule for remaining budget items as needed.