T’bonne council cuts 23 jobs

Terrebonne Parish officials have confirmed plans to eliminate 23 jobs in an effort to meet budgetary needs for the coming fiscal year.

“The premise that we started with was the fact that we saw a reduction in sales tax revenue over the last year,” said parish manager Al Levron. “We saw the impact of the oil spill and the uncertainty moving into 2011. So, the administration basically set forth a goal and directed all administrative departments to strive to reduce their budgets by 5 percent.”

Levron said that department heads were given the freedom to make their own decisions on how budgetary needs would be met and that jobs were not intentionally targeted.

Combining worker roles, attrition and simply eliminating posts that had at one time existed were used as methods to cut costs and reduce the overall parish workforce from 781 to 758.

Levron noted that four positions to be cut are currently filled and will result in job losses – two in the finance department, one in recreation and one in public works.

“We advised all employees for the potential of this,” Levron said. “Once the analysis was done it resulted in four positions being identified for this particular year.”

The total parish budget for 2010 is approximately $231 million, which was a significant increase from the 2009 total of $204 million.

“We had anticipated a reduction of 5 percent budgeted,” said the parish’s chief financial officer Jamie Elfert. “We knew revenue would drop once BP [crews] left.”

Levron cautioned that administrative job cuts not be misjudged when compared to salary increases passed last Wednesday by the parish council for three council staffers.

During their regular meeting, council members approved a November and December increase in gross wages for Charlette Poche ($3,000), Venita Chauvin ($2,000) and Suzette Thomas ($2,000). These increases, according to officials, reflect the added workload these staffers are to be compensated for following the retirement of council clerk Paul Labat, and their anticipated increased workload for the remainder of the year.

Administrative personnel and council personnel are separate entities, which budgeted and operated accordingly and are unrelated to one another.

“Reduction in the [work] force is not something that government enjoys doing,” Levron said. “It is the reality of our current financial situation and the current climate of the economy in the country. To the extent that we can recall these employees and restore a level of service, we are currently wanting to do that.”