By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – Trying to make every change possible to ensure passage of two critical sales taxes to fund the parish jail and Justice Center, top parish leaders have agreed to change two aspects of the tax in the hopes of garnering more public support.
The St. Tammany Justice Center and parish jail have previously utilized a quarter-cent sales tax to help fund maintenance and capital improvements, but last spring the renewal of the 20-year sales taxes were voted down by the public.
With a second try at gaining public support coming up on April 29, parish leaders have reduced the sales taxes from 20 years to 10 years, and further reduced the tax from a quarter-cent to a fifth-cent.
St. Tammany Parish President Pat Brister, Sheriff Randy Smith, 22nd Judicial District Court Judge Peter Garcia and La. Rep. Reid Falconer joined forces at a recent press conference for the media to hear why the taxes are so important, and why the parish leaders hope the changes will bring about the support they need.
The measure was defeated by the public in solid fashion last spring with voters saying “no” to the jail tax in a 60 to 40 percent vote, while turning thumbs down to the Justice Center renewal in a 62 to 38 percent vote. The defeat was seen as growing evidence the public is more skeptical than ever of government funding issues, even when they are renewals of previously approved taxes.
Brister said she has talked with numerous groups, plus many individuals, who consistently said the 20-year tax was too long. So the Parish Council and Brister agreed to reduce the length of the sales tax to only 10-years, especially in light of the fact the initial construction debt service will be paid up in 2018 on both buildings.
Additionally, the Justice Center tax has been restricted to dedicate 10 percent of the money—or $960,000 a year—to the growing group of specialty courts in the parish where judges are using their own time to operate courts which address problems such as mental health issues, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, veterans problems, family problems and more.
The idea to reduce the sales tax to a fifth-cent was seen as another way to show the public the parish is only seeking the minimum of what they need, Brister added.
“I have talked to a lot of people and was consistently told that 20 years was too long on the tax,” Brister said. “With many other millages only 10 years it made sense to drop the sales tax to 10 years.”
Brister said that if the tax fails it would positively mean the Towers Building in Slidell would close. That facility provides an eastern parish service area for most departments in parish government. If the Towers Building closes it will flood hundreds more to the Justice Center operation.
“That’s not a threat,” Brister said. “We simply wouldn’t have the dollars to operate it.”
The vote for the public will be two separate issues, one for the jail operation and the other for the Justice Center.
After 10 percent of the revenue goes to specialty courts, the remaining 90 percent of the Justice Center tax, valued at approximately $8.6 million a year, will fund the essential operation of the center in Covington, the satellite offices on the east side of the parish, and operational expenses for agencies which are budgeted at $7.7 million. Any remaining money will be for emergency expenses, repairs or critical capital needs.
The sales tax for the jail operation is equally important considering the parish currently houses 1,100 prisoners, Smith said. He said a failure of the tax would mean that 100 employees would lose their jobs. The jail currently has over 200 employees running it.
The reduction from a quarter-cent sales tax to a fifth-cent will mean the sheriff will get $9 million a year instead of the $11 million a year he was getting.
“It’s so important to maintain the operation and the safety of the jail as our population grows,” Smith said. “Even though the cost is rising to feed inmates and provide medical care for them, we are not asking for any increase—for that matter we are willing to figure out how to do it with less money from the tax.”
Garcia heads the specialty court program in the 22nd Judicial District system, providing a way to help people with problems that keep landing them in jail.
“We appreciate the parish helping us fund these courts since none of the judges are not paid extra money for the time it takes to handle the different courts, but it is still expensive to run them,” Garcia said. “These courts are proven to be effective by getting counseling, treatment or whatever it takes so someone can overcome the problem that keeps landing them in jail.”
Garcia said it costs approximately $2 million a year to fund the courts. They have obtained some grant money to help with expenses, but considering the financial problems at the state level he expects that assistance to become more difficult to obtain.
“That’s why the parish funding these courts is so important,” he added.
Garcia also said that if the taxes fail “it would put pressure on our jails to let more people out.”
Brister said the parish needs the sales tax funding since it comes down to quality of life issues in St. Tammany to maintain these services, and keep the jail operating at a peak level.
“We know the state issues with money are getting worse and we need ways to keep these programs that are important to our quality of life in St. Tammany Parish,” she said. “The residents of St. Tammany need to do what we can to take care of ourselves rather than rely on the state to help, and these taxes are part of keeping the quality of life we have here.”
The specialty courts are proven to reduce jail population, according to a Louisiana Public Health Institute report. Recidivism rates after two years for those who were involved in a drug court were only 5.4 percent, compared to a 36 percent recidivism rate for those who were offenders on felony probation with treatment in a specialty court.