LEONARD GRAY

HAHNVILLE – St. Charles Parish goes to the polls next Saturday to consider a one-cent sales tax proposition which would boost the current sales tax from eight to nine cents on the dollar. The estimated $7 million revenue from the increased tax, if approved, would be split evenly between the wastewater department and the hurricane protection program. One half of the revenue from the proposed sales tax would provide the foundation for operations and maintenance for the wastewater department, with the user fee revenue providing the balance. The other half-cent of the sales tax is earmarked for hurricane protection capital projects on the east and west banks. Parish Finance Director Lorrie Toups said if the tax fails the wastewater treatment rate, recently increased from $1.80 to $3.24 per 1,000 gallons for household use, would stay at its current level, recently increased an average of $120 per year, per household. “And that would keep us more in line with other parishes which supplement their user fee with a tax,” Toups said. “We have to be economically efficient and effective without turning a profit.” By calculating the average annual value of a half-cent sales tax per household, figures released by Toups indicate the burden of the tax would fall upon households with an income of at least $50,000. A total of 6,755 households in the parish have that income. On the other end of the scale there are 10,451 households with incomes of less than $50,000, all of whom would pay less through the sales tax for sewage treatment than if the tax fails to pass. The current average utility bill includes $14.25 for water, $11.43 for garbage and $1.77 for recycling, jumped from $43.05 to $53.13, in addition to $25.68 for wastewater treatment. Toups said if the tax fails it’s a given the user fee for wastewater treatment would soon hit the $4.05 per 1,000 gallons originally recommended by a 1997 rate study. If the parish’s voters approve the one-cent sales tax proposition the rate will go back to $1.80 per 1,000 gallons, which would add another $5.67 to the average utility bill, Toups added. A 1997 rate study was updated by Parish President Albert Laque last summer and proposed a $4.05 per 1,000 gallons rate to cover operations of the two new federally-mandated sewage treatment plants, which opened this year. Polls are open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.