By JIM BUTLER
The Police Jury closed 2025 with a $10.4 million General Fund balance, according to the annual audit released this week.
Commitments by the jury against that balance totaled about $7.6 million, auditors noted.
The General Fund had revenue of $11.2 million and expenses of $8.6 million.
Property and sales taxes yielded $7 million, licenses, permits and charges for services $3.1 million.
On the spending side public safety took $2.35 million, judicial $2.1 million and finance and administration $1.23 million. About $5 million budgeted for direct costs of operating parish government was not spent.
The Sales & Use Tax Department distributed $195.2 million to participating governments at an administrative cost of $2.3 million.
Revenue from various voter-approved sales taxes accounted for $188.8 million.
Of that, $74.5 million went to the School Board, $60.8 million to Alexandria, $18.6 million to the Sheriff’s Office, $17.9 million to Pineville and $8.1 million to the Police Jury (not all to the General Fund). The remainder was distributed to other entities.
Occupational licenses and taxes accounted for $3.4 million, about two-thirds in Alexandria.
Hotel-motel occupancy taxes raised $2.1 million and insurance licenses another $9 million. All but $600,000 of these categories went to Alexandria agencies.