VIDALIA, La. &045; Police jurors hope they have nailed down a solution to a building permit problem that has nagged at them for several months now, they said Monday night.

Secretary Russell Wagoner proposed attaching a .17-cent per square foot multiplier to the permits, in hopes of eliminating wiggle room builders have been taking advantage of.

In August, Building Inspector Vaughn Crook approached the jury with concerns the parish was losing money because contractors too frequently lied about the size and cost of their project. Since that time the jury developed an ordinance to address the problem, but the ordinance never went into effect.

At last month’s meeting, jurors questioned the policy again.

Wagoner’s suggested was approved Monday night. Part of the solution will also include more patrols by Crook to hold builders accountable.

&uot;It will give Mr. Crook a little bit more authority,&uot; Wagoner said. &uot;The increase (in funds) will offset what it will cost him to enforce it. It takes it out of their hands. They have to produce plans and square footage.&uot;

Crook will do three to four visits to each site receiving a permit to make sure no more additions have been made.

In other business:

4 The jury agreed to have a roadwork priority list ready by the next meeting on Feb. 28. Each juror will compile a list of roads in their ward and then the jury will combine the list and determine greatest priority. The list will be submitted to parish engineer Bryant Hammett.

4The jury appointed Roy Wagoner to serve on the Old River North Advisory Committee and Liz Brookings and Guylyn Boles to serve on the Highway 65 commission.

4The jury approved the purchase of a dump truck for just over $48,700. A rural development grant of $26,985 will go toward the cost of the truck.