Reminiscent of 2014, Gonzales City Council meeting rejected recently elected Mayor Tim Riley’s first General Fund (operating) budget on Monday. 11 years ago, three rogue councilmen amended various parts of then mayor Barney Arceneaux’s budget, wrangling over funding for Gonzales Police Department over months before extracting minor concessions. A pyrrhic victory if ever there was one, two of those three members would be successfully recalled in December of 2014, restoring decorum and unity to a legislative body known for marching in lockstep with its mayor.
The days of unanimity in Gonzales electoral circles are in the rear view, Mayor Riley’s grassroots victory at the ballot box in 2024 dealing a severe blow to machine politics in the city.
“It was a difficult task, preparing a budget when the longtime Finance Director quit in March and I want to thank Jacob Waguespack for finishing the budget in time for introduction,” a circumspect Mayor Riley would say after Monday’s session.
Former Finance Director Brandon Boylan resigned in mid-March without preparing the 2025-26 budget, necessitating Waguespack’s engagement. Waguespack is a highly respected Certified Public Accountant who provides similar services to several governmental agencies in the region. He urged the May 5 Special Meeting called for the purpose of introduction to accommodate the requisite public notice period and have the vote prior to expiration of the 2024-25 fiscal year.
“It’s not the end of the world and I have every confidence that a council majority can be reached,” Mayor Riley added. “As I understand it, state law allows Lawrason Act municipalities to operate into the next fiscal year on half of the prior year’s budgeted funds. I am hopeful that we can come to an agreement in the short term and avoid the need to do some belt-tightening.”
Riley would not, or could not, say how he plans to go about the task of swaying one of the three (Kirk Boudreaux, Tyler Turner and Terri Lambert) holdouts to his side. Eddie Williams and Cynthia Gray James voted to approve as a familiar pattern played out. More shades of 2014.
What do naysayers want? None of them bothered to say during the period of deliberation and, in fact, not a word of discussion took place before the vote.
The hastily concocted Capital Outlay Budget did not even receive an up/down vote on Monday. Jacob Waguespack explained 11th hour revisions, deletions of all funding requests not for projects already underway or fully funded by grants, because “the original (Capital Outlay Budget) was every department’s wish list.” The wish lists combined for approximately $20 million of capital outlay that no one thinks can be accomplished during the fiscal year in any event.
Waguespack urged the convening of another Special Meeting, this one on June 16 so that the requisite notice period can be fit in before final vote. “But we’ve got to have a consensus,” he cautioned.
“My administration is eager to negotiate but that is a two-way street,” Mayor Riley stressed. “So far, not one of the three opposition members has expressed a single thing they want…or don’t want in the budget. My biggest concern is a delay in funding Public Safety because we need additional officers and firefighters to meet a growing demand.”
Gonzales’ budget is comprised of eight separate funds, the six remaining all receiving unanimous approval.
- Utility Fund
- Wastewater Impact Fees Fund
- Tanger Mall Economic Development District Fund
- Conway Economic Development District Fund
- PACE Center Economic Development District Fund
- Industrial Development District Budget
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