[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish Council rejects millage roll-ahead

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard Parish Council rejects millage roll-ahead
by Chris Kirkham, The Times-Picayune 
Tuesday August 04, 2009, 10:12 PM

The St. Bernard Parish Council on Tuesday voted not to roll forward parish
property tax millage rates, a move that would have generated an estimated
$350,000 in additional revenue.

The bid to roll forward the millage rates and capture additional revenue
from higher property assessments adjusted in 2007 failed 3-3. Parish
Councilmen Frank Auderer, Mike Ginart and Ray Lauga voted in favor of
rolling forward; Councilmen George Cavignac, Fred Everhardt and Wayne Landry
voted against the move.

Technically the Parish Council voted to roll forward the millage rates last
summer, but the move was invalidated because the council clerk made an error
in advertising the tax adjustments.

State law allows public bodies to roll forward millage rates after
reassessment years. The move essentially allows the taxing body to apply the
same tax rates to higher assessed values, thereby creating a revenue
windfall. In the case of St. Bernard, millage rates from 2007 were adjusted
downward last year to account for the higher assessed property values.

Ginart, who sponsored the proposal to roll forward the rates, said he was
told by the parish assessor that the move would equate to less than $3 a
year in additional property taxes for those who own $100,000 homes. He
equated the move to salary increases the parish gives to employees to keep
up with inflation.

"We shouldn't hamstring ourselves by not rolling these forward, " Ginart
said. "It's not a new tax. It's basically cost of living."

Cavignac and Landry said they objected to the move, likening it to a tax
increase without the consent of parish residents.

"It's only approximately about $350,000 that this would bring forward, which
is a scant 1 percent of our budget, " Cavignac said.

"I personally just think the people of the parish should decide whether or
not they want to have any increase or any new tax, " Landry said.