The St. Landry Parish Council met Tuesday night and approved a 5% pay increase for parish employees, just one of several changes for the 2020 fiscal year.
Eunice Today reports that the city's finance director, Amanda Cain, said the increase is the first for about 100 employees in 12 to 15 years.
Another notable change is the city's credit - in 2017, the parish used a $1.3 million line of credit; in 2018, $878,000; in 2019, $522,000.
Cain said she hopes that the city will not have to borrow money in 2020 "if we stick to the budget."
Potential problems for the budget include the increasing cost of juvenile detention and inmate housing. The parish jail holds 244 inmates and recent counts are up to at least 270. When that happens, inmates must be housed outside of the parish, which costs about $10 more than in-parish housing.
Certain offices in the parish have taken budget cuts in order to aid the overall parish budget, Cain said.
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