Drop in oil affecting Vermilion Parish police jury budget

The low price of oil is beginning to effect local government - especially the Vermilion Parish Police Jury.
The price of oil is $48 a barrel as of Wednesday. While that is good news at the gas pump, it’s bad news for businesses and government in Louisiana - especially in Acadiana.
At Wednesday night’s committee meeting, the police jury talked about the low oil prices and how it is affecting their 2015 budget.
The police jury has a Royalty Roads Fund which is not dedicated to anything but used as an emergency fund. The money that pours into the Royalty Roads Fund comes from oil and gas leases, up to three miles off the coast of Vermilion Parish.
The police jury budgeted for 2015 the price of oil to be $100 a barrel, which meant they would collect $1.6 million from the oil and gas leases offshore.
Well, the price of oil is down more than 50 percent and it does not look to climb anytime soon.
According to police juror Mark Poché, each time the price of oil drops a $1, the police jury loses $16,000.
If the price of oil stays at around $50 a barrel, the police jury’s Royalty Roads Fund will be cut in half from what they projected.
“We really need to pay attention on what is going to happen to the budget,” said Poché. “We will look at the first quarter and see where the police jury is at.”
Poché predicted the Royalty Road Fund
budget will continue to drop because he also predicts the production side of the oil-field to drop, which means less money for the police jury.
Linda Duhon, the administrator for the police jury, reminded the jurors about the low price of oil and how it is affecting the budget.
Duhon wanted to know if the jurors wanted to issue a hiring freeze as a way to save money. She mentioned about not re-hiring a position if someone quit or retired.
Police Juror Nathan Granger advised her to do it on an as-need bases.
The police jury is expected to bring the issue back up at Tuesday’s Police Jury meeting.