The parish council will hold a public hearing and will then vote on an ordinance to adopt 2025 millage rates at its regular meeting Monday, Aug. 18 at 6 p.m. in the courthouse in Hahnville.
The ordinance, which was introduced at the council’s Aug. 4 meeting, proposes a millage rate for public services of 26.37, a rollback of .51 from its 2024 rate of 26.88 mills.
If passed, the rollback would mean slight decreases in gross revenue for some public services like road lighting, library, roads and bridges, recreation and the Council on Aging.
But the proposed rollback follows a trend of lower rates across the parish’s taxing authorities in recent years. In 2019, for example, the total average millage rate for the parish was 118.41. In 2024, the total average rate was 102.53. Last year saw the most significant millage rate cut in the parish’s history and the total average millage rate was the lowest since 1992.
Francesca Blanchard, a spokesperson for the parish, said the lowering of millage rates stands to make the parish more competitive and attractive to residents and businesses looking to move to the parish.
“Almost every year that Parish President Jewell has been in office has seen a reduction in millage rates in St. Charles Parish,” she said. “He is committed to having the lowest responsible millage rate in the region while continuing to provide excellent services.”
Each taxing district (public services, education, law enforcement, levees, healthcare and the assessment district) levies its millage rates during yearly public meetings. By law, all taxing districts must send their rates to the assessor’s office by Sept. 1.
The parish council is the third taxing district to host a public meeting on millages rates so far this year. The assessment district, the hospital service district and the Lafourche Basin Conservation Levee and Drainage district held meetings this spring and summer. The school system has not yet approved its 2025 millage rate.
Tab Troxler, the parish’s tax assessor, said no taxing district has raised their millages so far this year. He said last year that he expected rates to trend downward.
“I anticipate as the tax roll continues to grow the taxing authorities are going to start cutting taxes slightly each year,” he had said.
But even though millage rates have declined in recent years, many residents saw an increase in their property taxes last year because of the 2024 property reassessment. All Louisiana parishes must reassess property values every four years, and property values grew an average of 30 percent from pre-pandemic levels by the time of the assessment.
In 2024, property taxes generated $260.3 million in St. Charles Parish. Those funds were distributed based on voter-approved millage rates: 46 percent went to education, 26 percent went to public services, 19 percent went to law enforcement, 4 percent went to healthcare, 4 percent went to levee boards, and 1 percent went to the assessor’s office.
