Marksville 'sitting on a shoestring' budget

It wasn’t doom-and-gloom, but it certainly wasn’t rainbows-and-unicorns when auditor Aloysia Ducote delivered her report to the Marksville City Council Jan. 11.
Ducote said the good news in the annual audit was that “there is nothing illegal” found in the review of the city’s books, budget and expenditures. The city is also in compliance with meeting all of its debt obligations.
She said the audit revealed what city officials now understand -- sales tax revenues have decreased by about 3 percent, the Water Department and Sewer Department are both operating at a deficit and the city has to watch every dime to avoid ending up in the red. She said last year’s budget was tight and “this year will be tighter.”
Ducote said the city has taken the right steps in implementing a get-tough policy on cutting off water customers who are a month delinquent. “You will have to make cut-offs,” she noted, adding that there is no room for compassion at this time.
“You can’t control the sales tax revenue, but you can control water and sewer bill collections,” she added.
Council members merely received the report at the meeting. There was little discussion and no additional budget cuts proposed.
“You are sitting on a shoestring,” Ducote said, “but you still have to serve the public.”
In other action, the council amended its zoning ordinance to prohibit any commercial development -- including multi-family housing -- on property zoned A2.
The amendment was necessary because the ordinance, written many years ago, was unclear. Its intent was to prohibit duplexes and other strictly for-rent development in the residential neighborhoods, but the language was open to other interpretations.
The amendment removes any doubt.