Mayor’s Veto Of Monetary Allocation Will Stand

The Shreveport City Council has voted to sustain Mayor Cedric Glover's veto last Friday of an ordinance passed by the council on the 9th.  That ordinance came about as the result of the council's raising AEP SWEPCO's franchise fee from 2-percent to 5-percent.  It set up a special revenue fund dedicated to street repairs. 

As amended and passed, it would have put the additional 3-percent collected this year into that fund and the whole 5-percent into it starting January 1st.  

Mayor Glover says he vetoed the ordinance because it would have meant a $4-million revenue loss to the city's general fund budget every year -- starting in January, 2012.  Plus, the Mayor says, he thinks there's a way that the additional 3-percent can be used to finance roughly $100-million worth of bonds -- money that could be used to completely rebuild, rather than just repair, the city's ailing streets.