Durel To Propose Annual Budget To Council Tonight

The Lafayette City Council will meet at 5:30 pm tonight to begin deliberating the city's budget for the upcoming year. Lafayette City-Parish President Joey Durel stopped by “Mornings with Ken and Bernie” for his weekly “Lafayette Live” segment to discuss his roll in the budget process as well as how the public can participate.

I will propose a budget tonight. We'll then have budget hearings over the next 4-6 weeks. From this point onward different departments will come forward to discuss, explain, and defend parts of the budget they've asked for. - Joey Durel 

Durel says his proposed budget is a collaborative effort between himself, CAO Dee Stanley, who serves as manager of all the departments, and the proposed budgets from the city's department heads. The City-Parish President says public safety will likely makeup the majority of the budget.

Here's what happens, all I can do is propose a budget. I propose a budget based on what I ran for office for, but most of it is based on what the department needs are. What drives most of the budget is the department heads and the directors. They tell us what they need.

We then bring the council the budget. I ask them to participate, agree/disagree, and have good conversation. We've made public safety a priority during my administration. You'll see 55% of the budget going to public safety. - Joey Durel

Though he says public participation in the process is usually low, Durel says any interested citizen can participate in the upcoming budget hearings, however the public must understand city budgets are different than national budgets.

When people say, "we need to cut the budget", they think Washington D.C., but our budget is just different. The policemen and firemen and public works people want to get paid. They've also got insurance. You've got to approach it from a business standpoint. Saying cute things don't get it done. You've got to offer something. Propose a solution. - Joey Durel

Click the play button below to hear the entire interview: