Steve Bandy /Crowley Post-Signal
The Acadia Parish Police Jury will hold a public hearing on May 14 to discuss setting millages for the 2019 tax year.
Presented to the Police Jury by Assessor James “Jimbo” Petitjean, the proposed millages include:
General Alimony — 4.33 mills;
Exempted Municipalities — 2.16 mills;
Library — 4.32 mills;
Health Unit — 2.15 mills;
Roads and Bridges — 3.23 mills;
Cooperative Extension Multipurpose Bldgs. — 2.12 mills; and
Senior Citizens Center — 1.52 mills.
These are all the same millages that were levied last year with the exception of the Cooperative Extension and Multipurpose Buildings tax, according to Secretary-Treasurer A.J. “Fatty” Broussard, who explained that that millage had been rolled back to 2.12 from 2.15.
Broussard said the tax was originally passed at 2.12 mills but had been rolled forward to 2.15 when assessments dropped. The millage is due to expire at the end of 2019.
“By rolling it back to 2.12, it will appear on the ballot in November as a ‘renewal,’” Broussard explained.
The tax —listed as a “continuation” — was defeated late last year.
Public meetings are generally held at the onset of regularly scheduled meetings of the full police jury at 5:30 p.m. on the third-floor of the parish courthouse.
Among other action taken during the recent April meeting, the police jury:
— Authorized a pair of agreements with the Acadia Parish School Board, one for the use of board-owned facilities as shelters in the event of a disaster or emergency, the other (in cooperation with Student Transportation Services) for the use of school buses to transport evacuees from staging areas to shelter sites and back in that same instance;
— Approved the appointment of Emily Mire, representing Estherwood, and Harold Fonte, member-at-large, to the Acadia Parish Tourist Commission;
— Authorized the abandonment of all of Lake Road belonging to the parish;
— Accepted the low bid of $497,741.25 from Elliott Construction, LLC, for repairs to the access road at the Acadia Parish Sanitary Landfill;
— Replaced Church Point Mayor Spanky Meche with Willie Bergeron and Rep. John Stefanski with Kevin Ardoin on the Acadia Parish Planning Commission;
— Proclaimed the week of April 22 - 26 as National Community Development Week and the month of April as Fair Housing Month;
— Approved the clerk of court’s request to remove a temporary wall, allowing for the expansion of an office on the first floor of the courthouse at no cost to the police jury;
— Approved a five-year lease with Doggett of Broussard for a “crawler loader” for the landfill at a cost of $4,575 per month; and
— Approved a three-year agreement for the lease of the USDA Acadia Parish Service Center at a rate of $8,875 per month.