Ouachita govts plan on taking more from citizens

Governments across Ouachita Parish seem eager to take more of what their citizens earn, without having made compelling cases to do so.

On the way is a sales tax hike imposed upon several businesses along the West Monroe waterfront – which of course, they must pass on to their patrons that largely comprise city but particularly parish residents. But all West Monrovians will suffer a sewerage rate increase as well starting this week, as a precondition to nabbing a state loan to address long-needed upgrades.

That may be necessary for future maintenance as the city historically had relatively low rates for both water and sewerage. But that led to chronic deficits in running this enterprise that taxpayers had to subsidize within the last few years which to ameliorate turned into rate hikes, as well prompting last year’s  creation of an escalator clause that started this year designed annually to increase rates further by price inflation. And the latest jump that started Sep. 1 will repeat over the next two years. It’s a problem that should have been addressed long ago.

And then to add insult to injury, West Monroe plans on rolling forward its property tax rates, which its elected officials recently bragged as being among the lowest in the state. Every presidential election year the state has mandatory reassessment of property, where if the total value of previously-assessed property has increased, millage rates automatically decrease from their current authorized maximum to make for the same dollar amount collected in aggregate – unless a two-thirds majority of a governing authority explicitly votes after a public hearing to “roll forward” some or all of the difference, forcing a tax increase on most or even all property owners.

Its City Council doesn’t seem to be the only ones. All of the Ouachita Parish Police Jury, Ouachita Parish School Board, and Monroe City School Board have indicated they’re on board with rolling forward rates, at least according to OPSB Superintendent Todd Guice. Among major parish governments, only Monroe hasn’t indicated it will issue a public notice of a hearing for a roll forward. Holding a meeting doesn’t automatically mean rolling forward would happen, but governments that hold such hearings almost always later vote to do so.

None seem to have offered publicly a clear justification as to why they should do so. Louisiana’s Constitution treats assessment in this fashion because while homeowners may have an appreciating asset, they don’t realize capital gains on it until sold, so rate increases, on top of a potentially higher assessed value, especially negatively impact people on fixed incomes who may find that eating into their available monetary resources.

In fact, the most recent OPSB School Board meeting revealed some district costs are declining, such as those tied to unfunded accrued liabilities in pension plans. And with enrollment down over 1,000 students or 6.6 percent since the last reassessment, why does it need more money? Its $155 million general fund budget for Fiscal Year 2025 is $8 million higher and it has increased its general fund reserve by $6 million compared to that for FY 2020.

However, according to its chief financial officer Regina Mekus, insurance rates are going up and pandemic largesse has dried up. Of course, the latter was a known quantity that could be factored in to keep spending down to mitigate revenue loss. As for the increase from the roll forward, Mekus basically laughed it off by saying this was the way they had been doing business since 2006 and for an owner of a $250,000 house it would be less than an $18 tax increase, as if the district were entitled to what it considers a small sum.

But it’s not their money. A school system graded C with falling enrollment needs to do better in justifying its taking more money from the people. Hopefully, Ouachita citizens will attend these meetings and demand better answers to let their elected officials know they will hold them accountable if they end up reaching deeper into citizens’ wallets.