The St. Charles Parish Council introduced a new ordinance last week at the July 10 parish council meeting that, if later approved, would deliver tax relief to St. Charles Parish residents.
Parish President Matthew Jewell has proposed a rollback in millages by 1.5 mills, which the parish council is now considering.
“To give you an idea of what 1.5 mills will save a resident with a $250,000 home, they will be looking at an approximate savings of $26.25 per year,” Councilmember Holly Fonseca said, using figures supplied by the parish’s finance director. “Other agencies are considering a rollback as well, which in combination with the parish rollback, [could] save taxpayers even more on their property tax bills.”
Jewell said St. Charles Parish administration met with numerous parish government agencies that rely on millages as their primary source of revenue ahead of the July 10 meeting to get feedback before introducing the rollback ordinance.
The rollbacks are possible, Jewell said, due to certain industrial assets that will come onto St. Parish’s tax rolls after being exempt for 10 years. These industrial assets are expected to bring in meaningful additional tax revenue in the coming tax year, enough to allow parish government to dial down tax millages for residents. A similar situation is expected to occur again next year, when local industrial plants like Valero are due to have a significant amount of industrial assets currently on a 10-year tax exemption expire, Jewell said.
Parish agencies that rely on millage income are “receiving more money than they did last year – by double digits,” Jewell said, after he and parish administration reviewed the data with the various parish agencies. “All of these agencies are going to continue to be able to provide the services that they need, while also growing into the future.”
Despite officials projecting higher revenues even after the proposed rollbacks for mill-dependent parish agencies, local area fire department representatives were in attendance at the July 10 meeting, three of which expressed their opposition to the proposed rollbacks for fear it may cut back much needed revenue they rely on to operate.
Pointing to rising costs, staffing challenges and increased job responsibilities, Hahnville Fire Department Assistant Chief Britton Allshouse said St. Charles Parish was short on funding when compared to its fire department peer group throughout Louisiana. Allshouse cited examples such as the Bayou Cane and Luling fire departments, the populations each served, and their current budgets.
“If you do your research, we turn out to be one of the most underfunded [fire] services in the state,” Allshouse said.
Johnny Saldana, Hahnville Volunteer Fire Department president, echoed Allshouse’s comments regarding the rollbacks.
“We really need the max we can get to sustain the quality of service and provide equipment – not [equipment] that we want, but that we need,” Saldana said. “There are other agencies that dictate what standard we need to be [at] that’s out of our control, and I don’t want to see us go in the wrong direction.”
Jewell did comment after members of fire services voiced their concerns and made a few statements regarding the proposed ordinance.
“In this case, a reduction in the millage rate does not equal a reduction in funds,” Jewell said. “What’s being proposed would give the fire service a 15 percent increase over last year, as opposed to a 20 percent increase, because we’re asking for a five percent reduction in the millage.”
Jewell commented further a week after the council meeting, pointing to the parish’s strong financials as being a good time to reduce millages where possible, providing tax relief for most parish residents at a time when they need it.
“We know how bad the property insurance issues are right now, overall car insurance and flood insurance – just the different things people are still recovering from [Hurricane] Ida,” Jewell said. “So, what a great position to be in where [parish] agencies can bring in more money while we also lower taxes for our residents and small businesses.”
The next parish council meeting is scheduled for Monday, July 31 at 6 p.m. where the new tax rollback ordinance will be further considered, with additional public input requested.
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