Parish Press Release
Wednesday, December 2, 2020
President Richmond and the Parish Council learned through news reports on Monday, November 30, 2020 that a sales and use tax voted on by Parish residents in 2010 is set to expire December 31, 2020. Expiration of this tax will result in the loss of funds specifically dedicated to the Parish’s solid waste fund unless the voters of the Parish approve its continued collection. Since no ballot initiative was put before the voters in 2019 or 2020, the continued collection of this tax beyond December 31st of this year would have to approved by the voters in 2021.
The Parish Council will consider calling an election for the tax at their December and January meetings. If approved at those meetings, the initiative will be sent to the State Bond Commission for approval. Once approved at the state level, the initiative can be placed on the April 24, 2021 ballot. If voters approve the continued collection of this tax to fund the solid waste department, the tax will become effective on July 1, 2021.
While the expiration of the tax will result in the loss of funds for the first half of 2021, there will be no interruption of services provided by the solid waste department. All bin sites will remain open and Parish residents will still be able to dump trash and limbs at the landfill free of charge.
Original Article:
https://natchitochesparishjournal.com/2020/11/30/status-of-parish-sales-tax-fund-in-question/
Got to ask. Why isn’t anyone questioning our parish treasurer who made a budget for solid waste ( and highway) without knowing where the funding was coming from. Without knowing the funding was ending. That finance department needs to be looked at… treasurer and her right hand women should be aware of how the budget is funded, but they aren’t because they are to busy playing important to actually know what’s important. Strongly suggest our elected officials look at that department and who does what. Who gets paid what and why some people are protected and promoted regardless of lack of ability or qualifications…(because they are way to friendly with President and the treasurer)
Also heard the Treasurer and her right hand lady settled a wrongful termination suit with previous employee…on parish dime….hmmm we fail to reapply for funding but spend tax dollars to cover our ass regarding retaliation, favoritism, and straight up poor supervision skills. The powers that be need to look at FINANCE DEPARTMENT.
Richmond was Parish President in 2020. during his term the renewal should have then been put before the State bond commission. Now we r being told that after being voted on in 2021 it will be July before the tax will be renewed, who may I ask is going to pay these garbage collectors if there is no money for 6 months an we r as Richmond says still able to use the dumpsters an the landfill?
It would be very useful if the City, Parish, School Board and the Tax Commission would develop a Fiscal Reporting Plan that would keep everyone informed of Tax Revenues, Disbursements, Assets, Liabilities and Historic Trends and Tax Expirations. Charts and Graphs would be nice. It could be published annually or semiannually by all Media.
“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”
– James Madison, fourth American president
The parish treasurer should have notified the parish president of the expiration months ago. The lost revenue will never be recovered.
Seems like parish council and others are not keeping up on expiration of funding
Only a lazy useless couple left overs,the new ones are not responsible. Others not on the council are also at fault for whatever reason.
Baton Rouge AND the tax commission should have CAUGHT the in time to get it on the ballot it’s that simple! John Richmond and the new council members would have never thought this could even be possible with the importance of tax dollars available and at the time that this should have been added to the ballot those people would have been running campaigns and not even in a position to know! Sitting council members,the tax commission and BR. dropped this ball.
I would think it could be worded to include road building fund AND solid waste, we sure need both.
These two issues are important issues to parish folks, in fact important enough that I believe we could understand what money is coming in and how much money is being spent on each issue. Combining things in one line item is an easy way for money to go be misspent or to confuse people on what is happening to the money collected and if it’s actually spent on the right account. I believe it’s better for the people of the parish, and a way that everyone can be sure that all is as it should be and all is above board. Road repair and upkeep is possibly the most important concern of the parish in these times, as we see roads getting worse and worse. We want to know that the money is going to fix the roads, and we want to see just how much money is spent to repair the road system. It’s much easier if it’s a separate line item, so it’s there in black and white. It should be able to still be presented as a tax increase with two line items under the tax, and all is still under parish maintenance.
I understood from the first article that this tax covered road repair and solid waste disposal. We don’t have dumpsters, and no trash pickup in our area of the parish. That tax was a fairly large amount as I remember it. Now this article mentions only the solid waste disposal, and that if it is not passed that the parish residents would no longer be able to take things to the parish land fill. Could the parish commission please tell the residents of the parish what portion of the tax went to road repair and what portion to solid waste. If there is no trash pickup in the parish, and the tax doesn’t pass, so that parish residents are not allowed to use the landfill free of charge, what are we supposed to do with things. We pay for trash pickup through a private company. Would we have no where to take things that trash company will not pick up.
Please give us more information.
We have dumpsters and they are emptied by a big garbage truck once a week. We do not want to lose this service. You should be thinking of getting this service in your part of the parish.
We had them, they removed them years ago. The owner of the property would not allow the parish to use his land any longer. They say there is no place to put a dumpster in our area.
That is unfair to your community. They will probably tell you there is no place just to shut you up. . We had to fight and complain to get what we have. People were throwing trash all over outside the dumpsters. It was filthy and stunk and stray dogs/cats there. It was basically unsanitary. My husband is retired from DEQ (dept. environmental quality) so he called friends in DEQ, and they came our and investigated and then things were cleaned up. Hope you can get help if you need it. Have a good day!!
Nice job! Really glad you guys are on top of things. Maybe you ought to check on other deadlines? Or maybe you ought to admit that you are really fit for this job.
How is this even possible? I hope we have someone looking into other taxes and expiration dates!
Who is responsible for tracking this and informing the governing body? We have aTax Commission, Tax assessor, Tax Collector, Finance Director, etc., and no one knew? I suspect there is more to this story
My thoughts EXACTLY!!!🤔😳
How is it that elected officials aren’t keeping up with taxes? Another instance of a botched transition?