Collections reach $1.2M; 21-month high

Tuesday, Dec. 7
December 7, 2010
Thursday, Dec. 9
December 9, 2010
Tuesday, Dec. 7
December 7, 2010
Thursday, Dec. 9
December 9, 2010

Lafourche Parish continued to post strong economical numbers attributable to settlements and wages in the aftermath of the BP oil spill as exemplified by the October Lafourche government receipt of $1.2 million in sales tax revenue n the highest total the parish has posted in 21 months.


Total sales tax proceeds for the government jurisdiction in October equaled $1,237,276.03, the most collected since the jurisdiction brought in nearly $1.4 million in January 2009.

“Our biggest concern was how long we would be able to sustain solid numbers,” said Lafourche Parish Finance Director Ryan Friedlander. “Between the federally mandated moratorium and Vessels of Opportunity program winding down, we didn’t know what kind of shortage that would leave us for jobs. It’s nice to see that we are continuing to post consistent numbers.”


In total, the Lafourche Parish School Board, which is the sales and use tax collector for the parish, collected $6.1 million in October, according to Ray Domangue, deputy sales tax collector.


Prior to the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on April 20, Lafourche had its worst two months in collecting sales tax revenue since September 2005 when the government collected $790,593 in February and $795,520 in March, a decline of 21.8 percent and 14.5 percent respectively from 2009.

Despite, the aforementioned sub-$800,000 collections, total government proceeds in 2010 ($10.3 million) are only 2.1 percent off the 2009 pace ($10.5 million). This is due in part to the fact that collections in the April-to-October timeframe are up 10.4 percent ($6.7 million) in 2010 from the same period in 2009 ($6.1 million).


Since July, the parish government received more than $1 million from sales tax in five consecutive months. This streak is the longest since February of 2009, the last month in a string of 11 consecutive $1 million-plus collection months for the government.


The Solid Waste Fund, recently scrutinized for hemorrhaging money at a rate that could provoke a tax increase of up to three tenths of a percent to sustain the parish’s sanitation fund, also collected a 21-month high amount of $636,694, a 21.7 percent increase from one year ago.

The SWF October collection is a 20 percent increase over the previous nine-month average – $514,110 n for 2010.

The $1.2 million October collection was no doubt aided by the receipt of previous and lack of current delinquent payments n 209 accounts totaling $19,589. The 2010 monthly average prior to October was 324.7 accounts totaling $42,889.

Domangue said late payments n no matter the amount or duration of delinquency n are calculated into the month they are received.

“Obviously, every month there are delinquencies, no question about that,” he said. “There are notices that go out to that taxpayer, who ever they might be and hopefully we get the monies from them the next month or the month after.”

As far as projecting collection totals to close out 2010, Domangue played it close to the vest.

“People ask me about that all the time, and there is no way I would project anything,” he said. “It’s hard to say from one month to the next. We are hoping obviously, that we see more activity with Christmas, but we don’t know until we actually start collecting. The economy is still in question, so I would not dare say we are expecting so many dollars involving actual collections for the month.”

To judge the worth of an economy solely on sales tax is short-sided, but the increase in collections illustrates a tangible improvement in one of the economical indicators for the parish. Lafourche citizens either have more disposable income or the confidence to spend it with the holiday season in full throttle.

With the income opportunities stemming from the BP oil spill evaporating with the crude oil that presented them, the stakeholders will keep an eye on whether the heightened revenue maintains its recent climb.