DeSoto eyes expenses as revenue decreases

MANSFIELD — DeSoto Parish authorities are keeping a close watch on expenses as a dip in sales tax collections means almost 68 percent less revenue than a year ago.

Parish Treasurer Linda Gatlin is encouraging the Police Jury to be sure money is on hand before authorizing major projects.

The Police Jury isn’t broke — it has investments remaining from a shale bonus payment.

However, a big portion of the general fund budget relies on sales taxes, and that’s been hurt by a slowdown in shale gas development this year.

Collections for the Police Jury during August totaled $657,031, according to the August report, compared with almost $1.6 million in August 2011.

For several months, police jurors have been reviewing expenses and ways to trim costs.

The salaries of department heads such as the administrator, treasurer, road superintendent, landfill superintendent, airport manager and others have been frozen.

The Police Jury is considering salary freezes for other parish employees.