Oct. ballot likely to have jail, drainage tax issues

After entertaining alternative ideas, the Lafourche Parish new jail committee hardened its stance on introducing a half-cent tax measure on the October general election ballot to finance construction of a new jail.

Lindel Toups, chairman of the committee, suggested splitting the half-cent tax in half and dedicating a quarter cent to both the new jail and parish-wide drainage.

“If we’re going to build a jail for 800 people, we have to go to the people,” Toups said. “If you go for just a jail, they’re not going to [pass] it.”

Using the past three fiscal years as a trend, the parish would have taken in an additional $3.5 million per year with a quarter cent sales tax, according to numbers taken from the school board collections office and presented by Finance Director Ryan Friedlander.

The estimated tax collection shouldn’t be taken as gospel, the parish president said. “We are in very, very uncertain times right now in terms of the economy,” Charlotte Randolph said. “We’re not real good at predicting the future, but it’s a lot easier when it’s more stable than it is right now.”

Current Lafourche Parish law enforcement taxes exclude municipalities, but the proposed jail-and-drainage tax would be parish-wide. “We have to. We can’t exclude the cities on this,” Councilman Louis Richard said.

As of now, the Lafourche Parish sales tax rate reaches 9.2 percent in some parts of the parish. Richard said the committee needed to research how much the parish could legally tax with regards to state regulations.

According to Article VII of the Louisiana Constitution, a political subdivision cannot set a tax rate higher than 2 percent of the price of “food for home consumption,” “natural gas, electricity, and water solid directly to the consumer for residential use,” or prescription drugs.

Councilman Jerry Jones said that after the committee floated the idea of placing a tax measure on the ballot a week prior, he received phone calls from concerned constituents. “They’re not ready for more taxes,” Jones said.

The committee could not determine a way the parish would pay for the jail without an additional sales tax. Toups suggested the parish request the sheriff’s office to dedicate a portion of its revenue from a half-cent sales tax that was last renewed in 2008.

The renewal proposition states the sum of $275,000 annually plus 25 percent of all net revenues derived from the tax should be used for the purposes of “constructing, improving, operating and maintaining jail facilities and minimum security facilities.”

LPSO uses the revenue, which Sheriff Craig Webre estimated to be $775,000 annually, to finance a portion of the operating costs, namely his officers’ salaries. None of the money is being set aside for a new jail, which would be given to the parish government.

It is not likely the matter will be settled in a way that is favorable to the parish. Webre told the Tri-Parish Times last November that in its effort to debate the merits of the tax call, the parish was trying to “cut off its nose to spite its face.”

“When I say you cut your nose off to spite your face, by asking for something that you are not entitled to and pretending that you are, you may find that you poked the tiger one time too many, and rather than getting money that you don’t deserve, you’ll end up spending money that you’re obligated to spend,” Webre said.

Statutorily, the parish government is also required to maintain each of the nine sheriff office substations. Currently, LPSO has accepted some of this financial responsibility. Webre said the responsibility could be returned to the parish.

“That’s an issue that needs to be discussed and put to rest,” said Maj. Marty Dufrene, head of corrections at LPSO and member of the committee, at last week’s meeting.

The committee agreed and said Webre would be asked to attend the committee’s next meeting, on April 20. Dufrene said the sheriff’s office would research grants that could help with financing a new jail.

Friedlander said the parish spent $1.2 million on out-of-parish inmate expenses in 2010, up from $700,000 in 2009 and $400,000 in 2008. The rate, $24.39 per inmate per day, is set by the Department of Corrections, Dufrene said.

In theory, if the parish were to build a jail with business principles in mind, it could make money by housing out-of-parish prisoners in Lafourche, which would assist in making bond payments. However, Dufrene said the market for such a practice is dwindling.

The parish could opt to construct a wing solely for the purpose of housing females, which may facilitate out-of-parish inmates being brought to Lafourche for that purpose. Male and female inmates have to be separated by “sight and sound,” which is a problem for some of the state’s jails, Dufrene said.

The committee tentatively scheduled a date to tour jails in Livingston and Ascension parishes on April 15 to research the most effective way to approach its own situation.

The committee discussed constructing a jail large enough to house between 600 and 800 inmates.

The one-story Lafourche Parish Detention Center could soon be replaced. Lafourche Parish Council created a committee last month to explore ideas to replace the antiquated facility. ERIC BESSON