By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – After a roughly six-week delay, the St. John Parish Council on Tuesday approved the parish’s proposed $52 million budget for the 2010 fiscal year.

The spending plan, which parish officials described as “tight but balanced,” was introduced at the council’s Oct. 13 meeting and tabled twice to accommodate requests for more time from council members. The council voted 8-0 in favor of approval, with Div. A Councilman-at-Large Dale Wolfe absent.

The budget proposes a 7.5 percent increase in spending compared with the 2009 $48.5 million operating budget. St. John Acting Chief Administrative Officer Buddy Boe said the increase is a result of expanded insurance costs for employees and retirees, an increase in payroll for the parish fire departments and several line-item increases for sewer projects.

Despite the increase in spending, parish administrators are expecting a roughly 13 percent drop in revenue for 2010. In the next year the parish is projected to take in $51.9 million, compared to $59.5 million in 2009.

The decrease, Boe said, can be attributed to a less prosperous national economy as well as a decline in sales tax collection from the expansion project at the Marathon Oil refinery in Garyville, which is set to conclude by early next year.

Boe said administration officials slashed the public works budget for street maintenance from $1.3 million to $500,000 and drainage projects from $1.2 million to $200,000.

To make up for the narrowed gap, the parish plans to bolster the budget with money from the $29.5 million bond issue, passed by voters in April. The bond issue includes money for infrastructure improvements and additional levee protection.

Boe said the parish also is expecting grant funding for other projects as well as hurricane recovery money from state and federal sources.