Hubris has crept over the
Commission in recent years, fueled by the natural gas bonanza. Pay has crept up
to a level
far beyond what part-timers should earn running an outfit far smaller than
Shreveport or the Caddo Parish School District, courtesy of it being tied to
parish employee salary increases. The large surpluses of the people’s money
they socked away began to loosen their wallets differently when they found a
way to give
millions of dollars to a manufacturer of three-wheeled automobiles turned
down by other governments. But while the roughly $50 million banked was enough
from which to speculate, it wasn’t
enough to scale back or eliminate the renewal of the 20-year levy projected
to bring in almost $24 million over that span put in front of the voters
And perhaps because of the $22,000
annual part-time salary, under the cover of the recent charter review panel that
said the question could be looked at, the move was on first to eliminate term
limits, but then in the face of negative public reaction and from some
commissioners, that was compromised to present voters with a charter amendment
to set the number at five – demonstrating the feet of clay of the commissioners
who had opposed wiping out limits entirely, for few members in the 175-year
history of the parish of the Commission or its predecessor ever served more
than 20 consecutive years. Substantively, it was little different from having
none at all.
Also, it was a clever strategy to
try to pass the measure, in light of the fact that the original 1991 vote to
impose them came during statewide and parish elections. Commissioners may have
thought that the proposition wording, which cited the relevant charter section
but gave no indication a change was being made from three, would make it appear
to the uninformed that term limits were being put on for the first time, not
being extended in length. That this election was occurring when no other
elective contests, even special elections, were happening maybe emboldened them
to think that habitual voters, who always show up but are minimally informed,
might not know limits were in place and could be fooled into thinking they were
imposing them would be represented disproportionately in turnout.
If so, that was a mistake relative
to the tax renewal. Because local groups such as the Shreveport Chamber of
Commerce and the Parish Executive Committee of the Caddo Republican Party – who
GOP commissioners bucked by their approval to put the matter on the ballot – opposed
the measure, among chronic voters, who vote habitually but who also inform
themselves more than minimally, it was well known that this extended terms, and
they were eager to get to the polls to negate it. Thus, the measure was shot
down by about the same almost two-to-one margin as the original vote to impose
them had enjoyed in approval in 1991.
Worse, in many parts of the
parish this and the tax renewal proposition being the only things on the
ballot, so it probably encouraged voters suspicious of property taxes to begin
with to come out and to vote in disproportionate amounts. This possibility may
have been on the minds of commissioners who pushed to have the election this
year instead of next spring, as the length of the authorization ends in June,
meaning if not renewed as each bond repayment tied to a portion of that millage
expires the ability to tax that amount of millage also disappears after that
date, thereby giving them a fallback date in case of failure.
Once again, it was Republican
members who failed to distinguish themselves. It was Commission Democrats who
actually argued to delay the vote, in order to have time to foster debate and
to gather support, and the only GOP member who voted
against putting the measure on the Oct. 19 ballot was Matthew Linn (who argued no
good plan to spend the proceeds had been offered). So mostly Republicans sent
the proposition to its electoral death by about four dozen votes that Saturday.
The spring date still is there,
but the question is how much has this result poisoned the well and whether the
Commission will embrace the result as a teaching moment about its recent
arrogant behavior in a quest to win proposition passage. That election date
will contain a similar demographic with more disgruntled voters than usual over
the past few years, upset at the recent last resort lending and attempts to raise
salaries and lengthen terms, that only now commissioners seem to have realized
existed.
Having borrowing capacity is not
a bad idea, for you never know when you’ll need it, and the parish has no
obligation to sell those bonds, just the opportunity with passage of an authorized
millage. Time will have passed to ameliorate voters’ hard feelings from the
Commission’s recent follies by the spring, but it should take no chances by
offering the millage in a reduced form. Then it can claim a partial tax cut
would be coming with an affirmative vote, which should be enough to distract
folks from its actions of the previous year and subtly reminds that the parish
has a big reserve, which current officeholders would hope the electorate
credits them for.
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