By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – The 2014 budget for the City of Slidell received final, unanimous approval on Tuesday night at the City Council meeting.
But there was hardly unanimous agreement about a final sticking point, which was a proposed cut of $234,600 from the Slidell Police Department budget.
With the city still facing difficult financial times, a city budget committee asked Slidell Police Chief Randy Smith to cut 2 percent from his budget of over $8 million.
On Tuesday night, Smith asked the council to cut that in half, changing it to a cut of $117,300 from the police department.
Smith addressed the council and acknowledged an uptick in crime for Slidell recently, with several burglary rings operating in Slidell, although there have been some arrests.
“We have had some recent crime situations here and even though we’ve had some arrests, we’ve all seen additional crime in our city,” Smith said. “To cut $234,000 will mean I will have to lay off two more officers.
“I’m asking you to consider only half of that amount,” he said. “If you come back to me in several months and say our financial situation is more serious, then I will work with more cuts. But for now, meet me half-way. That is fair.”
That began over an hour of commentary from the public, and mostly City Council members, who took differing positions on whether the $234,000 was fair or not.
“We gave Chief Smith the budget three weeks ago and asked for this cut,” Councilman Bill Borchert initially said. “But we only got his answer today. I can’t support his request for half of the original amount.”
Councilman Sam Caruso pointed out that in the past three years, other city departments have had over $1.5 million in cuts, while the police department has had $483,925.
“It is simply not the truth that we have asked the police department to have such huge cuts,” he said. “Other departments have also had their cuts.”
Councilman Joe Fraught added that “if there were other areas to cut, we would do it. But we don’t have that to do.”
After 45 minutes of discussion, Councilman Buddy Lloyd suddenly suggested the police department cut be reduced to $176,550, noting it was the mid-way point between what Smith wanted and what the committee had requested.
That raised new questions about why “arbitrary numbers were being pulled out of the air.”
Council President Lionel Hicks waited until all other public and council discussion had finished before adding his final comments.
“I have listened to all the talk about this budget,” Hicks said. “I hear all these different numbers and wonder, where are they coming from?
“I met with the budget committee, who explained why they felt comfortable with the $234,000 being cut from the police department, and I trusted their opinion, so I will not change my support for that number,” he said.
But in the end, Lloyd’s amendment to the amendment—asking for the police department to cut $176,550—barely won out with five council members voting for it. Council members Lloyd, Borchert, Caruso, Landon Cusimano and Kim Harbison backed the new proposal, that passed in two votes to settle the matter.
Smith told the council at the start of the evening that he expected an “across the board” budget cut if “things were that bad.” But in the end, he failed in his request to have his budget cut to half of what the council asked for.
“Cutting the police department more than we have seen the last few years could jeopardize the safety of our city,” Smith said. “But I will continue to do my best to work with what the council is asking of our department.”
Smith explained that he has cut off-the-street officers several times in the past two years since being elected to office in 2010.
Also in the vote for the night was cuts by the City Council to several non-profit groups in Slidell, which had been receiving annual donations from the city. Included in the cuts was STARC, the Council on Aging of St. Tammany and the Youth Services Bureau. An amendment was passed which excluded the Children’s Advocacy Center from those cuts.
The final budget for the City of Slidell, for fiscal year 2014, passed with a unanimous vote of 9-0.