Bond panel acts legally to aid illegal BC action

The irony is that by the State Bond Commission reluctantly following the law it rewarded a majority of members of the Bossier City Council for breaking it and their oaths of office.

Last week, the SBC met in its regular meeting to review, among other things, the dozens of local government requests to put items on the Mar. 29 election ballot. Included was Bossier City’s controversial requests regarding the end products of its Charter Review Commission.

A subcommittee in October denied fast-tracking the request to make it onto the Dec. 7 ballot. At the time, the subcommittee, headed by Republican Treas. John Fleming, decided that would be premature to eschew the normal schedule as the items were related to matters under litigation. To be precise, one of the three items would impose a consecutive three-term limit on the mayor and city council offices, while a citizen-led initiative would impose that but make it lifetime and retroactive.

Monroe voters hand Ellis win, rebuff Council

Score that Monroe independent Mayor Friday Ellis 2, Monroe City Council Democrat majority 0, on the issue of extending a city sales tax for capital improvements as a battle over city spending priorities continues.

Earlier this month, the Monroe electorate passed a renewal of the city’s one percent sales tax, first levied in 1994 just for streets but expanded in 2001 for infrastructure of all kinds. During Ellis’ first term in office it was used to raise and spend $120 million on various projects from its generation of $18.8 million annually to back that. The city’s latest five-year capital improvement plan lists $289 million of projects in that time frame, of which the sales tax proceeds would help to fund by backing debt for that.

It was a reauthorization that Council Democrats Juanita Woods, Rodney McFarland, and Verbon Muhammad tried twice to delay. On May 28 the Council, after McFarland and Muhammad had won elections to their seats but before taking them, approved sending the measure to the Dec. 7 ballot – about five years ahead of schedule, with Woods voting against. It was to last 25 years although originally it had been set not to expire at all.