North Terrebonne Recreation District may consider tax proposition for merger at August meeting

A tax proposal that could lead to reshaping parish recreation may be considered at a North Terrebonne Recreation District Board meeting on August 9.

Officials are drafting language for a tax proposition to head to voters of Recreation Districts 1, 2/3, 8 and 9, which fall within the “super district” of North Terrebonne. The territory encompasses Bayou Cane, Bayou Blue, Gray, Schriever, Gibson, Lis Park and the Highway 311 corridor, among other areas. 

The current recreation system is divided into 11 districts — each run by its own board. Every ward has an individual millage rate. If each of the four aforementioned districts passes the proposed tax, those constituents would have a millage rate of 6.5 mills for recreation. (One mill equals $1 for every $1,000 of assessed property value.) Currently, residents pay 7 mills in Rec 1, 9 mills in Rec 8, and approximately 15 mills in Rec 9. Only taxpayers in Rec 2-3 would see their recreation property tax increase as they now pay 5 mills. 

In June, the Terrebonne Parish Council created the new district and formed the interim North Terrebonne Recreation District Board, which consists of council members acting as a recreation board to place the property tax on the November 13 ballot. 

The parish will not impose North Terrebonne constituents’ current recreation district property taxes if the proposition is accepted — which officials emphasized during Monday’s meeting. “If this tax passes for the North Terrebonne Board…it will not be a duplicate tax. Nobody will be charged duplicate taxes with the current districts in the consolidated district,” said Councilman Gerald Michel, chairman of the new board. 

“We just want to reiterate that to the public and to the council and make sure everybody understands that it’s not two taxes. We will not impose two taxes,” added Kandace Mauldin, the parish’s chief financial officer. 

If the property tax fails in at least one of the districts, the council will abolish the new super district, according to officials.

The tax proposition was set to be considered by the board at its next Monday meeting in two weeks, but there were complications with the advertisements, Mauldin said. However, the new date will still allow the parish enough time for it to go before the State Bond Commission for approval ahead of the November election, she said. 

The North Terrebonne Recreation District Board’s August 9 meeting is scheduled to start immediately after the Terrebonne Parish Council committee meetings — which begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Robert J. Bergeron Government Tower, 8026 Main St. in Houma.