Cuts To Lafayette Parks Leads To Director’s Retirement

Each Thursday morning on Acadiana's Morning News, Lafayette Mayor-President Josh Guillory joins us for Lafayette Live to talk about his, and one issue we discussed last week were upcoming budget cuts to the local government due to Covid-19.

Yesterday, KLFY reported that the Director of Parks and Recreation, Gerald Boudreaux, has resigned is post because of drastic cuts that will be made to the department.

Last month, Lafayette Mayor-President Josh Guillory announced that almost 100 positions, many of them part-time positions, were being eliminated in order to save government money. We are facing an $18 million budget shortfall, and Guillory has been detailing for listeners since his inauguration his cost cutting measures. Those measures became much more intense after tax revenue dropped when people were asked to stay home because of the current Coronavirus pandemic.

Guillory informed all departments that they would need to make a 20 percent reduction in their budgets by the end of the year, and that prompted Boudreaux's resignation according to Channel 10. They quote Mayor-President Josh Guillory as saying yesterday,

It's a recipe for a major fiscal disaster in a very short period of time, and I won't let that happen to our city. I must choose the most important things that are critical to the safety and future prosperity of our city and of our parish. As we stand here today, we simply cannot afford many things that we enjoy and that enrich our community.

Boudreaux has been with the Lafayette Parks and Recreation Department for thirty-six years. He is also a member of the Louisiana Legislature and serves as the District 24 State Senator.