Holden finds surplus funds for law enforcement

Mayor Kip Holden introduced a supplemental budget amendment this afternoon that asks the Metro Council to appropriate more than $11 million in surplus funds to the city-parish capital and operating budgets—with most of that money going to fund law enforcement and public safety needs. In his cover letter to the council, Holden says 93% of the extra money, or about $9.7 million, would go to new academies for the police and fire departments, new weapons, new vehicles for both departments, and the cost of housing inmates in other parishes due to parish prison overcrowding. The additional money, which the administration says it was not aware of when it prepared the budget in late 2011, is coming from several sources, among them: higher-than-expected sales tax collections during the first quarter of 2012, unused money in the general fund budget, unused money in the police department’s budget, and interest from cash balances in the parish construction budget. The item has been placed on the agenda for the council meeting Wednesday. To read the mayor’s complete budget request, click here.