By CALEB FREY

Staff Reporter

LAPLACE – A $2 million increase in property tax revenue will be divided amongst the St. John Parish Council, the Sheriff’s Office, the School Board and a handful of other public departments, according to St. John Parish Assessor Whitney Joseph.

This is the second straight year St. John Parish has seen increased revenue through property taxes according to Joseph, a trend he expects to continue for years to come.

The total tax revenue for the parish increased from $24.6 million in 2004 to nearly $26.7 million for 2005. The taxable value of property parish wide increased over $16 million last year from about $192 million in 2004 to nearly $210 million in 2005.

The revenue increase was due in large part to businesses such as The Home Depot having to pay increased property tax from the previous year. The Home Depot paid $103,000 in property tax in 2005 compared to only $33,000 in 2004.

The increase stems from the fact that businesses and homes built in 2004 were only taxed on the value of the lots. The parish could not collect the full value of the property tax from these businesses and homes until 2005.

The Parish Council will receive nearly 1.08 million of the additional money in tax revenue compared to last year’s total of about $997,000. The Sheriff’s Office will see an increase of about $550,000 from 2004 and the School Board revenue increase was over 700,000 according to information from Joseph’s office.

St. John School Board Superintendent Michael Coburn says the money will go to immediate improvements but nothing in particular stands out.

&#8220Once we get all of the money in we’ll sit with our teachers and employees and figure out the best way to spend it,” Coburn said. &#8220We’re just waiting for the check to be in our hands.”