President Cooper Vetoes “Unidentified Projects”, Opposes Defunding of Traffic and Drainage Solutions
President Mike Cooper opposes the Parish Council’s decision to defund key initiatives to address traffic and drainage concerns and has vetoed the effort to fund the unidentified projects with no purpose or need.
“My administration has been and will continue to be focused on avoiding the mistakes of the past, increasing the investment in our infrastructure and providing for our future,” said President Cooper. “The budget that we submitted reflected those ideals and the values of our citizens. I am extremely disappointed that our Parish Council took money out of key initiatives, such as new roadways, drainage improvements and even bridge replacements on our aging Tammany Trace. The decisions that we make today will have a tremendous impact on our quality of life now and in the future.”
President Cooper submitted a Capital Improvement budget totaling more than $60 million in long-awaited, critically-important improvements, including:
- · Construction of the Mandeville Bypass Road - $24.5 million
- · Comprehensive Parishwide Drainage Plan Phase 2 - $300,000
- · Replacement of seven Tammany Trace bridges - $6 million
- · Spanish Trail Heights Subdivision Drainage Improvements in Slidell area - $900,000
- · Construction of Roundabout at Emerald Forest and Falconer in Covington area - $1.5 million
“Funding is available for all of the aforementioned initiatives, but were removed from my proposed 2023 Capital Improvement budget by the Parish Council. In fact, many of these projects were removed without our citizens being informed. I wish to thank those Councilmembers who have worked with my administration and asked productive questions about these projects leading up to the meeting.”
On December 19, President Cooper line item vetoed the “Projects to be Identified” as adopted in the 2023 Capital Improvement Budget totaling $10,873,500.
“In the same adopted budget, our Parish Council allocated nearly $11 million of ‘Projects to be Identified.’ Simply put, this is not in the best interest of our citizens, lacks transparency and accountability,” President Cooper said. “Our Charter sets specific requirements for ‘detailed estimates of all proposed expenditures.’ This effort to budget for projects without identifying them restricts the opportunity for our citizens to review and comment.”
“I do not and will never support any attempt to defund studied, impactful transportation and drainage projects, which have been vetted extensively, to re-allocate funds to projects without thoughtful purpose or need. I recognize your authority to amend the budgets, but the effort to reduce investments in parishwide initiatives and add millions to projects that have not been thought of is not prudent and is unacceptable.”
“We cannot continue with archaic, inefficient “fiefdom” management of projects and must support a more comprehensive, centralized approach. The citizens of St. Tammany Parish have elected us to not only preserve their health, safety and welfare, but also, improve their quality of life. I encourage our Parish Council to join me in prioritizing our citizens’ needs today and planning for the future of our great Parish.”
President Cooper has resubmitted the request to fund the aforementioned five projects, which were removed from the Capital Budget by the Parish Council. The resubmittal will be introduced at the January 5 Parish Council Meeting, which will be held at 6 p.m. in the Council Chambers on Koop Drive.