Millage renewal propositions include no increase in rates to voters

By MOLLY DRYMAN

Staff Reporter

LAPLACE — St. John the Baptist Parish will have four items on the Nov. 12 ballot to renew existing 10-year property tax millages, which pay for parish services.

St. John Parish Director of Finance Jeff Clement said all of the items are renewals.

“These are things we have all the time and that have existed for more than 10 years,” he said. “One of the mills expires this year, but the others do not expire until 2007. We decided to go ahead and try to renew all four, instead of just having one item on the ballot.”

Clement stressed that these are not new taxes, they are just renewals of the existing millages the parish has.

The first item is for 1.01 mills, which funds operation of the Parish Jail Courthouse and office buildings. This generates around $188 thousand per year to maintain parish buildings, including utilities, maintenance and repairs.

The second item is for 4.86 mills, which funds street lights and lighting projects. This generates around $900 thousand per year to pay for all the street lights in the parish, including maintenance and employees.

The third item is for .97 mills, which funds operation of the parish health units. This generates about $180 thousand per year and helps maintain and to staff the parish health units.

The last item is for 10 mills, which funds the operations of St. John Parish Libraries. This mill generates around $1.8 million to run and maintain all the libraries in the parish, including genealogy services, meeting rooms and special programs for children.

Voting will take place from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday. The regular polling sites includes the LaPlace Branch Library, John L. Ory Elementary School, St. Peter’s School, Edgard Courthouse, East St. John High School and the Percy Hebert Building to name a few. For more information on other places to vote or the millages, contact the Parish Administrative Office at (985) 652-9569.