The Jena Town Council introduced the 2024 budget for the town during its regular November meeting held Monday morning, November 6, which showed the town is nearing $1-billion dollars in total revenue.

The budget totals $9,633,416.00 in total revenue; $5,776,636.22 in operating expenses; and $5,496,975.00 in capital improvements, for a deficit of $381,760.22.

“We have spent several hours on this budget,” Councilmember David Paul Jones stated. “We’ve taken a lot of time to review this budget.”

Mayor LaDawn Edwards agreed and noted that hours have been spent in committees and individually going over the budget and trying their best to be as fair as possible in what projects were to be included in the 2024 budget.

Among the items included was equipment for the fire department, a new, fully equipped police unit and more.

Town Clerk Cory Floyd noted that in order to do many of the projects included in the budget, Council Members agreed to use some savings from prior years and this one-time expenditure would have to be replenished in the future to keep the savings at the same amount.

The proposed budget showed the general fund has $1,859,226.00 in revenue; $1,750,186.22 in operating expenses; and $108,675.00 in capital improvements.

The utility fund has $6,363,190.00 in revenue; $2,232,950.00 in operating expenses; and $5,388,300.00 in capital improvements.

The sales tax fund has $1,411,000.00 in revenue; $1,793,500.00 in operating expenses; and nothing in capital improvements.

The complete budget is available for review at the Jena Town Hall during regular business hours, 7:30 a.m. until 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. The Council is expected to officially adopt the 2024 budget at their December meeting.

Monthly Reports

Jeffery Benson gave the October report for the Jena Fire Department, noting that during the past month the department had one call they haven’t had before: an elevator rescue.

“Yes, you heard that right, an elevator rescue,” Benson told the council as he smiled. “The elevator at LaSalle General Hospital got stuck between floors and we thought there was just one person in there but when we pried the doors open, we saw there were several people in there. We helped them down and out.”

Benson also noted that during the month the department responded to two vehicle wrecks, two rubbish fires, two grass fires, two structure fires, two brush fires, two alarm activations, one forest fire, one medical emergency and one service call.

Members also attended one training class on ventilation review with ten attendees and the department participated in two fire prevention/ public education events, one at Jena Elementary School and one at the LaSalle Parish Head Start School.

Chief of Police Scott McLendon gave the October report for the Jena Police Department, noting his department recorded four arrests, issued 12 citations, had six vehicle assists, worked 11 vehicle accidents and responded to 83 complaints.

He also reported that the department collected $4,346.78 in fines and other costs during October.

In a related item, the Council approved Chief McLendon’s request to hire James Mario Thomas as a patrolman effective November 13, 2023. Thomas is a former LaSalle Parish Sheriff’s Deputy and most recently an Alexandria Police Department officer.

Town Superintendent Ronny Steele reported that during the past month the town crew repaired 22 water leaks and cleaned out four sewer lines. He was happy to report there were no gas issues in October.

The Superintendent noted that many of the leaks were on the water line on Breithaupt Street and noted the bad condition of that line.

“We are going to have to do something about that line soon,” Steele said. “The amount of man power/hours we are putting in on repairs on that line will probably justify replacing the line.”

He also reported a total of 20,982,000 gallons of water was produced with a daily average of 676,839 gallons.

“This is a 3.1% decrease from last month and a 25% decrease from August,” he said. “We’re finally in some cooler weather.”

He also noted that all water samples submitted to the Health Department were in compliance and town engineers have begun working on the Water Sector Grant plans for the water system improvements.

“They are also working on a sewer grant, which includes a 200KW generator, grit removal system with controls, etc.,” he said.

In the Mayor’s report, Edwards noted that September sales tax figures showed collections were up $14,042.28 from 2022 to 2023.

“We had a great turnout for our first annual Breast Cancer Awareness Ride on October 28 with 61 riders participating,” she said. “For our first year doing this, the turnout was great and we plan on doing it again next year.”

Later that same day, the Town of Jena’s Trunk or Treat was held with the Mayor noting they had the largest number of “trunks” ever to participate.

“We had less kids this year but there were a lot of fall festivals at churches going on at the same time,” the Mayor said.

Edwards also noted that the town crew is currently checking on the town’s Christmas decorations and plans are to have them installed during Thanksgiving week.