DANIEL TYLER GOODEN

CONVENT – Life has been pretty good in St. James Parish. The Mississippi River brought scores of companies to the parish and millions of dollars to the parish treasury. Though the explosion at Kaiser Aluminum two years ago was a setback to the parish, the strength of St. James Parish’s overall industrial community helped finance many capital projects and was good business for the whole community. In the past year Kaiser has begun to again pour millions of dollars into the parish as it rebuilds and updates its alumina processing facility. However rising energy costs have put enormous pressure on the other industries in St. James Parish. With the slowing of an economy that has been driving on business and industry in the country, how the parish is going to handle finance as a few of their top industries, I.M.C. Phosphates, American Iron Reduction and Larouche Industries, quit producing is a question on many minds. At the Jan. 3 St. James Parish Council meeting, Parish President Dale Hymel said he and the parish directors would meet to discuss what projects may have to be set on the back burner as revenues may decline. Gaston Bourgeois, director of sales and use tax for the St. James Parish School System, stated that although the loss in revenue has yet to be calculated, it seems it will be more of a loss than when Kaiser shut down. “I hope it’s not more than $30,000 or $40,000 a month to the parish,” said Hymel. That amount would represent about 10 percent of its annual budget. Hymel has requested Bourgeois calculate what the loss in monthly sales and use tax would be and expects to have it for the council on a later date. The number, however, will not fully represent the impact on the parish’s economy. When a new job is created in the parish, for example at $20,000, generally one would calculate seven times that, $140,000, to be the estimated impact in the parish, said Hymel. The reverse should be the about the same. The loss of three industries and their workers’ salaries mean less money spent in the parish. This comes at a time when the economy may be at the beginning of recession. “The industry is the first to feel the impacts of the economy, and they’ve been feeling that for a while,” said Hymel. Now small businesses have also been contacting the president’s office concerned that their energy bills have risen so high and worried about their security. With the federal government lowering interest rates, local industries might take on loans for expansion or maintenance, said A.J. Laiche, finance director for the parish. The other industries haven’t given any indication of having problems, but it will take a little time until the effect of lower interest rates trickles down to the parish level, he added. Now the problem of the slower economy and the closing of the plants is something to work around, said Laiche. The parish will be looking at different programs that it can cut back on, “none of which are services for the public,” stated Laiche. Hymel said the regular updating of equipment may be put on hold. Recreation projects such as the softball fields in Lutcher or the new library in Vacherie may be also slowed down. “All the on-going projects will continue and be finished,” assured Hymel. With hopefully just 10 percent of the parish’s budget reduced, the problem will simply be of working around the difficulties. As the slowing economy has a greater effect on businesses and industries, more attention may have to be made toward the issue, but for now it’s simply a matter of adjusting the things working. So the parish, along with the rest of the state, will have to wait and see what happens. “I hope that both the industry and the businesses can weather the storm until the economy picks up again,” said Hymel.