OPELOUSAS, LA. (KLFY) – Phillips St. bridge in Opelousas has been closed for over a year.

Its damages are headlined by a massive hole on one of two sides.

This is just one of a few community projects in need.

The fate of those projects will come Friday with a special budget meeting.

“What’s going to happen is you’re going to have businesses that are going to leave town because we’re not fixing their roads,” says Opelousas Mayor Reggie Tatum.

Tatum says that could happen if the budget isn’t passed or the process takes too long.

He says last year, the council did not pass the budget until February of this year.

Tatum says the council needs to act now.

“This year is very imperative that we pass the budget in a timely fashion because we have a lot of emergency capital improvement projects that need to be done,” says Tatum.

Besides the Phillips St. bridge, there are many other important projects.

Tatum says five or six roads are in dire need, another bridge is closed, and sewer and water plant upgrades are needed.

He says these projects can’t be completed until a budget is passed.

“It doesn’t stop us from doing normal day-to-day but what happens is it stops us from doing any improvements,” he explains.

Tatum says businesses are threatening to leave town.

“I’ve had many business owners that have basically come to me and stated that if we don’t get this done and we don’t start making improvements, they’re going to leave so we don’t want that,” the mayor says.

The meeting will be happening Friday at 5 p.m. in the City Council Chambers.