Maurice Aldermen to vote on budgets

MAURICE — Recent declines in sales tax collection in the Village of Maurice will be part of the discussion pertaining to both last year’s budget and the one for the coming year.
The Maurice Board of Aldermen will vote at its regular meeting Wednesday evening to adopt an ordinance amending the operating budget for the fiscal year of July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015. The board will also vote to adopt an operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year, July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016.
“With sales tax looking the way it is,” Maurice Mayor Wayne Theriot said, “we are going to reduce our amount for the ‘14 budget. It will be amended down. We have collected through April. We still have to collect for two more months (May and June).
“We are going to have the same philosophy for the ‘15 budget, on a reduced amount of sales tax.”
A public hearing will take place prior to votes on both the amending of the ‘14 budget and the adoption of the upcoming budget. The meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. in the meeting room at Maurice City Hall.
Theriot said April’s sales tax collection was down around 40 percent compared to the same time the previous year. The village brought in around $46,000 this year, well short of the $78,000 earned in April 2014.
“Naturally the biggest decreases are the oil-related businesses,” Theriot said. “Other businesses are down, which shows our citizens are being more conservative in their spending. There are some other factors. There was some home construction last year.”
The expectation is the downward trend will continue to show in the May and June numbers.
“We are going to amend down to be reflective of those two months,” Theriot said.
The upcoming budget will also be reflective of the trend, with spending being closely watched.
“We anticipated this a few months ago,” Theriot said. “We’ve communicated to all the department heads and we are looking at expenditures. We are doing whatever we can do to get the best production out of our dollar. All of our departments have been very good at justifying expenses and being conservative. They have been very good and I need to compliment them on that.
“If sales tax goes back up, all the better, but we want to be as efficient as possible.”
As for sales tax, it is down, but not at a dire low.
“We are still a lot better off than we were three years ago,” Theriot said. “We have grown and that has helped. We are talking about $46,000 being down. If you look back in 2012, we are looking at sales tax collection being around $30,000. We are doing better, but our citizens and businesses are being affected by the economy right now.
“Hopefully that will be short-lived.”