On a tax measure, West Monroe elected officials hope that the second time is the charm through an effort that this time doesn’t feature too many “uneducated” voters.
In November, the Board of Aldermen cued up a 4.50 mill new property tax accepted for the ballot by the State Bond Commission in its December meeting. As that was previous to the Jan. 2 deadline for such items to reach the Secretary of State, it’s officially on the Mar. 29 ballot. The roughly $800,000 raised annually for the next ten years would go towards capital purchases for public safety.
It doesn’t look too much different from the 4.75 mill effort that narrowly failed last spring. That one would have funded the same kinds of things plus public works. A 1.63 mill tax to support public works the city didn’t try to renew before it expired in 2022.
The failure by fewer than a dozen votes city officials opined stemmed from too few voters of which too many didn’t understand the issue. Often, elected officials specifically gear tax measures to aid a numerous segment of city government, and frequently police and fire operations as these activities usually command wide approval by citizens, at elections with little else on the ballot. That way, city workers over whose functions the infusion of tax dollars will wash have motivation for their family and friends to show up in support at the polls, giving them outsized influence for a low-stimulus election.
However, that can backfire because typically a cadre of voters looks skeptically at tax measures and takes any opportunity to vote against these, which also gives this group outsized influence in a low-stimulus election. This could make the remainder of the electorate crucial for passage, where it is believed enticing them with the benefits of the tax can get enough to the polls to win the day.
Turnout last spring was about 8 percent with that being the only thing on West Monrovians’ ballots. Then again, when last city voters approved the one percent portion of the 1986 sales tax in 2016 – which will have to come up either later this year or next year to renew its $7 million or so boost to the city’s bottom line – a paltry 6 percent turned out for something that passed nearly three-to-one. Even the expired levy, at its last approval in 2013 while it gathered in just 4 percent of the electorate, passed with over 90 percent in favor.
So, West Monroe voters might be a little more discerning than their elected officials will credit them. Maybe it’s not that they don’t know what’s going on, but they don’t like what they see.
That noted, the dynamics this spring might be different. One the one hand, turnout if past similar elections indicate anything might be three or four times higher as the ballot statewide will contain a constitutional amendment serving as the linchpin to fiscal reform tackled at the last legislative special session last year. That could draw in voters otherwise bystanders persuadable to add to their annual property tax bill $475 for every $100,000 of value in their properties.
On the other hand, the presence of the amendment will draw in a whole new set of skeptical voters: those generally suspicious of any constitutional amendments who reliably vote against all kinds and some others rallied by leftist special interest groups to vote against it because those who pay almost every cent of state income taxes will get a break if the amendment passes. These sets likely disproportionately will vote nay on the tax hike.
Making matters worse for those who wish to see it pass, Ouachita Parish has on that ballot a renewal of a 7.43 mill measure to fund parks that may cause some voters to shy away from slathering onto themselves even more taxes, as well as perhaps remind attentive voters that West Monroe just spent about two years’ worth of desired revenues from the proposed hike on walking trails in Kiroli Park, leading to questions about priorities.
Thus, lopping off a quarter-mill from something that barely missed last year still might not make it. If it doesn’t, maybe West Monroe’s elected officials will stop blaming voters and blame themselves for not making different choices.
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