Homer term limits hearing set for April 18
The Guardian-Journal
A hearing regarding the alleged illegal vote
of the Homer Town Council to do away with term limits for the mayor and council
has been set for Thursday, April 18.
On Friday, March 8, Pam Breedlove, attorney
for Homer Police Chief Russell Mills, filed suit against the town for
erroneously and illegally attempting to do away with term limits for the mayor
and the town council citing it “affects his voting rights.” In a special called
meeting on Monday, March 18, the town council recalled the vote on the advice
of Town Attorney Marcus Patillo, who cited “issues that may or may not be
there, and I just thought it best that the council recall that vote.”
The motion was made by District 2 Councilman
Michael Wade and seconded by District 3 Councilman Don McCalman, and it was
unanimously approved.
According to the suit filed in March,
“...nothing in the agenda stated that the Town was attempting to amend the Town
Charter to eliminate term limits, that the Town intended to introduce an
ordinance or resolution regarding term limits, or even which public official’s
term limits were going to be discussed. During the meeting on February 11,
2013, the Town of Homer did not amend its agenda to list any amendment to the
Town Charter or to introduce any ordinance, resolution or motion regarding term
limits.”
During the meeting in February, when the town
attorney explained to the public what was being done, he referred to Ordinance
842, which he said they would be reverting back to the ordinance previous to
842. However, in 2002, Proposed Ordinance 842, although passed and adopted by
the town council in 2001, failed when it went to a referendum vote. This means the
ordinance is not on the books and is not in the town’s charter.
Many citizens have been upset and divided on
the issue that started it all -- the attempt to disband the Homer Police
Department. Within just a few short hours of the vote by the council to do away
with the police department, Mills hired an attorney, filed suit against Mayor
Alecia Smith and the town and won judgment against the town.
So, for now, the Town of Homer still has a
police department.
Many citizens who have viewed public records,
including the town’s budget, travel and meal expenses have asked the council
and Mayor Smith repeatedly about these expenses to no avail. Each time citizens
ask questions, Smith and the council remain silent.
In research done by this newspaper, several instances
of travel and meal expenses as well as recreation expenses have been found that
were also questioned by citizens in various meetings since February.
Also, recall petitions are still circulating
for the recall of Mayor Smith and all five town council members. At this time,
the actual count of signatures is unknown. However, to recall the mayor, it
will take at least 660 signatures of registered voters within the corporate
limits. The number of signatures for each council member varies by the number
of people in their respective districts.
Homer council rescinds budget amendment ordinance
introduction
MICHELLE BATES, Editor
The Homer Town Council has rescinded the vote
on the introduction of Ordinance 13-003, an ordinance that would have amended the
budget in regards to the Homer Police Department.
In a special called meeting on March 2, the
council introduced the proposed ordinance, “An Ordinance of the Town of Homer
Amending the Budget for the Town of Homer for the Fiscal Year, Beginning January
1, 2013 and ending December 31, 2013 Pursuant to La. R.S. 39:1310 and 39:1311;
and to Provide for all Matters Relative Thereto.” On the agenda for that
meeting, it was listed as “VII. New Business, B, Introduce Ordinance 13-003 --
Amending the 2013 Budget of the Town of Homer with respect to the Police
Department and the Town’s General Fund -- Attorney Marcus Patillo.
“At this time, we’d like to withdraw and
recall our vote,” Mayor Alecia Smith said.
The motion was made by District 2 Councilman
Michael Wade, seconded by District 4 Councilwoman Carlette Sanford, and it was
passed unanimously.
On the day the town and Homer Police Chief
Russell Mills went to court over the disbanding of his department, his
attorney, Pam Breedlove, filed an amended petition to stop the town from what
they believed to be slashing the police department’s budget and returning those
funds to the general fund.
“The Board of Selectmen introduced the
ordinance during the special called meeting by title only and did not provide
the public with a copy of the ordinance but indicated that the Town was going
to take money from the police fund budget and return it to the general fund
budget,” the amended petition states. “Upon information and belief, the Mayor
and some members of the Board of Selectmen are attempting to eliminate or so
drastically reduce the police budget as to make the department inoperable.
“However, to the extent the proposed budget
amendment is attempting to remove money from the police department fund, those
actions are in violation of the Louisiana Local Government Budget Act contained
in La. R.S. 39:1301, et. seq.”
In the 2013 police department budget,
$631,860 was allocated, with $350,000 of that coming from the general fund.
Town Not
Paying its Bills on Time?
In public comments, Matt Simmons, owner of
Gordon’s Service Center, approached the mayor and council with concerns about
the fact the town has not paid for services performed by his company since
January.
“I’m here to ask for some help from the
council,” he
said. “I’ve asked the mayor on a few occasions to help me with this and I’m not
really getting anywhere. It’s really hard to provide a service to the town, for
the citizens and the parish when people aren’t paying properly. I’m not trying
to throw anyone under the bus, I’m just asking for some help.”
He said he has five invoices that total
approximately $1,400 that have not been paid since January. The invoices are
for repair work done to patrol units for the Homer Police Department.
According to Simmons in a telephone
interview, Gordon’s is the only authorized Goodyear dealer in town, and by
Goodyear’s regulations, the businesses have to be so many miles apart, because
there can’t be another authorized Goodyear dealer in Homer. And, Simmons said,
the prices the town is getting on tires is one of the best in the area.
“I want to continue doing business with y’all
(the town), and there’s no sense in taking our tax dollars elsewhere,” he said
during Monday’s meeting. “I just brought a check up here for $800 for my
occupational license.”
Wade asked Simmons what he needed from the
council, and Simmons replied, “I need some money. This is April 1, these
invoices are from January to February. These are invoices that the town has not
paid.”
He said on numerous occasions he’s spoken
with the mayor and Town Clerk Lisa Foster on the matter, and he’s just asking
the town to pay their bill in a timely manner.
“I don’t think that’s too much to ask,” he
said. “We’ve done work on some of these police units, and they’ve got some
pretty ragged cars here and we keep them pieced together. The town can’t afford
to buy new police units, and that’s fine. All I’m asking is that they (the
town) get caught up on their bill. I don’t mind doing the work; I understand
that money for the town is tight as it is for myself. It’s an ongoing problem.”
Mayor Smith then asked Simmons to call Foster
the next morning to discuss the matter.
“Have you done this?” the mayor asked,
“Because I haven’t spoken with you this year, well since the early part of this
year.”
“I’ve talked to you about this right there in
the parking lot of my business about this same problem,” Simmons replied.
“That was in the early part of 2011,” Mayor
Smith responded.
“I’ve talked to you about this, and I’m not trying
to throw anybody under the bus,” Simmons said.
District 5 Councilwoman Patricia Jenkins
asked Simmons the last time he’d spoken with anyone about it, and he said it
was the last time he’d received a check from them. Simmons also said he had
purchase orders for every one of the invoices.
“We want to make sure we pay our bills to
local businesses,” Wade
said. “We want to keep our businesses in our town.”
Wade said he and the council would look into
it to see why the town isn’t paying its bills on time.
Mayor Smith asked Simmons again to contact
Foster the next morning to discuss the matter.
Refinancing
Bond Indebtedness
In other news, the council also adopted an
ordinance (Ordinance 13-905 -- Authorizing the Issuance of Not to Exceed Three
Million Dollars $2,300,000 of Revenue Refunding Bond Series of 2013, of the
Town of Homer) to refinance old debts, which is expected to save the town about
$120,000 over the life of the loan. According to Wes Shafto, the town’s bond
attorney, the debt is from bonds issued in the 1990s, and this ordinance is
restructuring the loan at a 3.5 percent interest rate.
Along those same lines, Shafto requested that
Proposed Ordinance 13-904 (Authorizing the Issuance of Three Million Five
Hundred Thousand Dollars $3,500,00 of Taxable Utility Revenue Bonds, of the
Town of Homer) be tabled until the Louisiana Department of Environmental
Quality (LDEQ) gives the “green light” to move forward with procuring the
grant. The council held a public hearing for notice of intention. This grant
will be helping with improvements to the water and sewer system as well as the
purchase of the electronic water meters.
The item was tabled until the May meeting.
Grant News
Also in grant news, Homer’s grant committee
presented the town council with a request to authorize Mayor Alecia Smith to
enter into an agreement with Balar Engineers to repair and replace potable
water lines. According to the committee’s information, the town deals with
about five or six major leaks per month, and replacing the water distribution
lines would drastically reduce the number of leaks, thereby saving the town money
in repairs and give the town better quality water.
Gene Coleman, grant committee chairman, said
the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) could grant 45 percent of the funds
and the town could finance 53 percent of it. He said he hoped to have figures
to the USDA within six months.
According to an email received from Coleman,
from Jim Hagan with Balar, the project “will consist of replacement of the
Town’s antiquated water distribution system (piping, valves, fire hydrants,
service connections, etc.). A significant part of the system was installed
before 1960 and is well over 50 years old. The proposed project will replace
specific mains and related items that are determined to be failing due to age,
deterioration, etc.”
Hagan said many citizens were unaware of the
issues the town has dealt with in regards to its water system. In fact, this is
an issue the town has been dealing with for a significant number of years.
“Most folks are unaware of the problems the
Town is experiencing with its water distribution system (repairs, maintenance,
etc.) and the daily challenges the Town’s maintenance staff faces in keeping
the water flowing to the residences and businesses in the community,” Hagan
said in the email to Coleman. “While the Town has secured grants to upgrade its
water treatment and wastewater treatment plants over the last five years, no
significant improvements have been made to the water distribution system in
well over 15 years.”
The first step in procuring the funding was
the adoption of Resolution 13-003, Authorizing Mayor Smith to submit
application to USDA for Water Supply and Distribution System Improvements; sign
all documents related to; retain the services of BALAR Associates, Inc.,
Consulting Engineers to prepare Preliminary Engineering Report (PER),
Environmental Review Document (EID), and related documents to USDA Rural
Development.
As explained in the email by Hagan, the PER
“outlines the scope of the work to be undertaken including complete cost
estimates, etc. and is prepared in accordance with the format required by USDA.
The EID also follows the format established by the USDA and is required to
ensure that there are no environmental problems that will preclude completion
of the project.”
Hagan says both these reports normally require
about six months to complete, due to time needed for environmental reviews by
state and federal agencies.
The cost of preparing these reports are
roughly $20,000 to $22,000, which the town will have to pay up front, but Hagan
emphasized that those costs would be reimbursed by the USDA grant/loan if
approved.
“The above water distribution system
replacement is an integral part in redevelopment of the community and is a
project that will tremendously benefit all citizens in the town,” Hagan said.
Homer
Housing Authority back in the black
In other news, Homer Housing Authority
Executive Director Debra Sarpy proudly presented a check to the Town of Homer
for its PILOT (Payment In Lieu of Taxes) taxes in the amount of $13,656.10 for
the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012. In recent years, the Homer Housing
Authority fell on hard times because of misappropriation of funds, and has
spent a huge amount of time getting the books straight and back on track.
Sarpy said that while the Homer Housing
Authority is still listed as being “troubled” by HUD (Housing and Urban
Development), they should be taken off that list within three to six months if
they continue to show improvement in operations.
She also submitted a letter of thanks to
Mayor Smith and the town council for forgiving the PILOT taxes the last few years, allowing them
the time to catch up on their finances and get their books in order.
“The Homer Housing Authority would like the
Town of Homer’s Mayor and Council to know that the Homer Housing Authority has
a long way to go to try to recuperate the $400,000 that was misappropriated in
the past,” the letter states, “but please be advised that we at the Homer
Housing Authority have been working very hard to bring our finances out of the
red and into the green, which I can say at this time we have accomplished. At
this time, our accounts payable is up-to-date and our bank account has a
positive balance.”
PILOT taxes are payments in lieu of taxes,
which is a means to compensate a local government for some or all of the tax
revenue that it loses because of the nature of the ownership or use of a
particular piece of real property.
Currently, the housing authority has 103
units, with 93 rented, five vacant and two “offline.”
Mayor’s
Report
In the mayor’s report, Mayor Smith announced
the March collections. Water collections were $101,113.62, sales tax
collections were $100,662.65 and property tax collections were $4,010.40.
Water collections for the month of January
were $110,057.24, and February’s collections were $104,840.41.
Sales tax collections for January was
$114,879, February $81,000.
Total property tax for January was
approximately $67,000, and for February, it was $36,000.
Both Easter egg hunts this last weekend were
rained out. One was scheduled at Mayfield Park and the other at Joe Michael
Memorial Park (the former Jaycees Park). Those will be held again next year.
Also, June McClure, town employee, announced
the Clean City Contest, of which judges were expected to be in Homer to judge
on Tuesday. The Town of Homer has won the regional contest for Louisiana’s
Cleanest City for two years in a row. Timothy Ivory was given a round of
applause for planting flowers around City Hall and other public areas in Homer.
The mayor thanked Superintendents Lee Wells and Walter Young and the crews from
the Claiborne Parish Detention Center.
“We appreciate all your efforts to make the
Town of Homer look better,” she said.
• Senior Citizens Day will be held May 3,
beginning at Homer City Hall ending at Mayfield Park for some recreational
activity.
• Recreational Committee meeting will be at 6
p.m., Thursday, April 4, in council chambers. This meeting is open to the
public.
• Mayor Smith said they are also seeking
volunteers for the historical and main street committees, which are committees
set up to make the Town of Homer better, to bring businesses here. She said
when she attended the historical grant committee meeting in New Orleans, she
said that Homer’s square is the model for what a town square should look like.
“We’re going to develop these committees to
help the Town of Homer live up to its potential,” Smith said. “We have a lot of
historic buildings here that need to be on the register (the National Historic
Register). If anybody knows anything about some historical places in Homer and
would like to be on this committee, Alysia Mitchell is taking names and
applications. You can also contact Gene Coleman.”
Decision made in police chief’s residency complaint
The Guardian-Journal
A decision has been made in the residency
requirements complaint filed against Homer Police Chief Russell Mills, but as
of press time, District Attorney Jonathan Stewart had not released his
conclusion.
In a telephone interview Tuesday afternoon,
Stewart said he had not yet drafted the letter stating his conclusion and
before he could release any information to the media, by law, he was required
to inform certain parties.
“Under the law, when I’ve finished an
investigation, I’m obliged to send a copy of my findings to the parish journal,
to the lady who requested the opinion and also to the mayor and town council,”
Stewart said. “And I’m doing (Homer Police Chief Russell) Mills a courtesy and
sending him a copy.”
Once all these have been informed, it will be
available for publication, which he said would be by next week.
Stewart praised David Watson, the district
attorney’s office investigator, saying he turned over information as he
gathered it.
“I asked him to gather some additional
information on March 25, and he did so,” Stewart said. “Also, I met with my
prosecutors from each parish, Doug Stokes, Tammy Jump and Jim Hatch (Monday)
afternoon, and we came to a conclusion.”
In early March, a complaint was filed with
the District Attorney’s Office challenging Mills’ residency within the
corporate limits of Homer. According to published reports, that complaint was
filed by Azzie Olds, a resident of Homer, claiming Mills does not live within
the corporate limits of Homer, but instead has a home and business on Lake
Claiborne.
Minden man wanted in Claiborne locked up in Caddo jail
A Minden man wanted in Claiborne Parish for
issuing worthless checks is now in the custody of the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s
Office for two counts of theft and one count of forgery.
David Edward Dix, 61, was transferred from
the custody of Sabine Parish authorities to Caddo Parish on Monday, March 25,
on the three charges aforementioned. Bonds total more than $75,000. However, he
has a hold on him from Claiborne Parish for the IWC charge (misdemeanor), Claiborne
Parish Sheriff Ken Bailey said.
“As soon as they get through with him, we’re
going to get him,” Bailey said. “It seems like he’s a career criminal and he’s
bounced from parish to parish.”
According to records from the Claiborne
Sheriff’s Office, he is wanted on four counts of issuing worthless checks in
2008. Bossier Parish has a probation violation for the same charge, and
Bienville also has a warrant for the same charge and failure to appear. He
served time in Desoto Parish for theft by fraud and was released into the
custody of Sabine Parish authorities in August 2012. Caddo picked him up from
Sabine on March 25.
According to a press release from the Caddo
Parish Sheriff’s Office, Dix went into several businesses stating he worked for
a local newspaper.
“Dix sold ads and told the businesses their
ads would appear in the June edition of the paper,” the press release states.
“When the ads did not appear, the businesses contacted the paper and discovered
Dix had never worked for them.”
Some of the businesses wrote checks to the
newspaper. Dix altered the checks by adding his name so they could be cashed,
said Caddo Sheriff’s Detective Frank Edmondson.
In February 2003, according to reports, Dix,
using various aliases, approached businesses in Caddo Parish, claiming to
represent a Shreveport/Bossier publication. He was arrested and entered a
guilty plea in Caddo District Court.
In April 2005, Dix was arrested for scamming
businesses in DeSoto and Red River parishes by selling advertisements for a Shreveport
publication where he was reportedly once employed.
He was also an employee of the Minden
Press-Herald for a few short months in 2001.
Dix also faces similar charges in Harrison
County, Texas. Dix is scheduled to appear in Caddo District Court on Monday,
April 29. He is currently incarcerated at the Caddo Correctional Center.
Portions of this story were reprinted with
permission from the Minden Press-Herald.
Retired CPSO chief investigator passes away
The Guardian-Journal
Retired Claiborne Parish Sheriff’s Detective
Chuck Talley has passed away.
Charles R. “Chuck” Talley passed away Monday, April 1, at
his home following a short illness.
Talley was the chief criminal investigator
for the Claiborne Parish Sheriff’s Office for 32 years and retired from there.
He was also a volunteer for the Homer Fire Department for 18 years, an LSU Law
Enforcement Instructor, a certified scuba diver and past president of the
Northwest Louisiana Evidence Technicians Association.
Talley was also affiliated with the Boy
Scouts, Eagle Scouts, Jaycees and the Homer Police Department.
He is survived by his wife of 45 years,
Sandra Talley, One daughter, Rachelle Talley Graham, a grandson, sister,
brother and other relatives and friends.
Funeral services were held Wednesday
afternoon at First Baptist Church in Homer with the Rev. Lance Sims and the
Rev. Brian Thurman officiating. He was interred at Homer Arlington Cemetery.
Honorary pallbearers were employees of the
Claiborne Parish Sheriff’s Office. Please see this week’s edition of The
Guardian-Journal for Mr. Talley’s full obituary.
3rd annual Team Cade Benefit May 4
Charity Garage Sale April 6
Team Cade Charity Garage Sale will be from 7 a.m.
until noon at McKenzie Bros. Garage at 635 W. Main Street. It’s a multi-family
sale with items that include furniture, clothes, shoes, small appliances,
electronics and dishes. All money raised will go to the Cystic Fibrosis
Foundation in honor of Cade Liles.
Tour de
Claiborne
The Tour de Claiborne Cystic Fibrosis benefit ride will
be Saturday, May 4. Sign in is between 8:30 and 9 a.m. at Homer High School
with the ride beginning at 9:30 a.m. The entry fee is $50. There will be three
routes this year:
1. 8 miles: South on North Main Street, left onto Highway
3, left onto U.S. 79 Bypass, left onto North Main Street to the finish line.
2. 14 miles: South on North Main Street, left onto
Highway 2, left onto North Main to finish line.
3. 30 miles: South on North Main Street, right onto
Highway 2, left onto Lewisville Road, Highway 159, left onto Pistal Thomas Rd,
right onto Highway 2, right onto North Main Street to the finish line.
Register online at Bikereg.com. Onsite registration will
begin at 8:30 a.m. and closes at 9 a.m. on the day of the event. At
registration, please put your shirt size at the end of your name.
Poker Run
Registration for the poker run will be at 8 a.m. at the
Courthouse Square with the first bike out at 9 a.m. Riders will return to the
Courthouse Square by noon. The registration fee is $25 per person, with the
grand prize at $250.
Raffle
Raffle items include a $250 gift certificate to Delta
Interiors for $2, a four-gallon fish fryer for $2, a Cajun grill for $5 and a
52” Exmark lawn mower at $10.
Silent
Auction
During the Team Cade Cystic Fibrosis Benefit, a silent
auction will be taking place with lots of great items including autographed
sports memorabilia, a day of golf, gift baskets, kids’ toys and much more!
Items will be on display in the police jury building during the benefit.
Chicken
Plate Lunches
While everyone is out and about looking at all the silent
auction items, or putting their money in the hat for raffle prizes, or
returning from the bike ride or poker run, chicken plate lunches will be served
for everyone! At $7 each, plates will include chicken, baked beans, potato
chips, bread and a cookie.
Relay for Life coming up soon!
Annual fundraiser slated for April 13
The Guardian-Journal
Claiborne Parish’s American Cancer Society’s
Relay for Life is expected to be better than ever, and for the first time, will
be held on the Claiborne Parish Courthouse grounds on Saturday, April 13.
To begin at noon and end at midnight, 11
teams will be participating with this year’s theme, “Cancer Never Takes a
Holiday.” Each team will decorate their “campsites” with a selected holiday.
Several teams will have games, food and
raffles going on throughout the day. In addition, there will be entertainment
throughout the day.
Registration and lunch for survivors will be
at noon.
Opening ceremonies will be at 12:30 p.m.,
followed by the Survivor’s Walk at 12:40 p.m.
A schedule of events is as follows:
1 p.m.: 4 His Glory
2 p.m.: Spencer Smith
3 p.m.: Bark for Life
4 p.m.: Unshakeable
5 p.m.: Sweet Harmony
6 p.m.: Erin and Jeff Sandford
7 p.m.: Dick’s Hat Band
8 p.m.: Rigdon Family
9:30 p.m.: Luminary Ceremony
Several teams will also be selling food items
including: Grace Team will be selling Cajun food for their theme of Mardi Gras,
Heritage Nursing Center will be selling raffle tickets for a gift card wreath
and will have food and candy for their theme of Halloween, Presbyterian
Village’s team will feature a “Kids’ Zone” with balloons, tattoos, and Pot of
Gold for their theme of St. Patrick’s Day, United Pentecostal Church of Homer
Youth will feature a chalk board to honor cancer survivors and/or those who
have lost their lives o cancer, and they will be selling cookies for their
theme of Christmas, Homer Memorial Hospital will be selling hamburger plates,
the Grits team will be selling raffle tickets and have a silent auction,
Brookshires will be selling barbecue plates and First Baptist Church youth will
be having the dog show “Bark for Life.”
The Bark for Life, a canine event fundraiser,
will be at 3 p.m. The event is open to all dogs. Categories include the fastest
dog, cutest trickster and best dressed. Registration is $5 and includes a
bandana for the dog and a wristband for the owner.
Prizes will be awarded to the top three dogs.
Enter as many categories as you want or just bring your dog to enjoy the fun!
For more information, please contact Christina at 318-927-3596.
The luminary ceremony will be at 9:30 p.m.
This is a very moving ceremony where all the lights are turned off and bags
with candles bearing the names of those deceased or survivors are placed around
the “track,” lit and the names of survivors and those who lost their lives to
cancer are read.
Please come out and listen to the
entertainment we have planned and enjoy the food and fellowship while
supporting a great cause. Hope to see you on the Square on Saturday, April 13.
For more information, you may contact Nancy at 318-927-2517 or Christina at
318-927-3596.
Legislative session to start with Jindal Tax Plan
MICHELLE BATES, Editor
District 11 Rep. Patrick Jefferson will be
headed to Baton Rouge this weekend for the beginning of this year’s legislative
session to deal with a proposed tax plan that could raise state sales taxes.
Jefferson has spent time with his
constituents over the last few weeks, speaking at the last Haynesville Town
Council meeting and at the Homer Lions Club going over what he expects to see
in Baton Rouge as well as introduce some bills of his own.
According to Jefferson, Gov. Bobby Jindal
will introduce a tax plan that will do away with state income taxes but raise
state sales taxes. The plan, Jefferson said, is revenue neutral, which means
raising sales taxes won’t bring in any more state dollars than it does now and
will hurt “the least of these,” meaning
poorer Louisianans and small business owners.
“The tax plan sounds great, but there are
prices,” Jefferson said. “The Stelly Plan went away; over $3 billion gone. The
Revenue Estimating Council says revenue is shrinking. Gaming revenue is down. Income
and business taxes are down, and they’re asking constituents to do more with
less. Jindal’s plan will signal the death of several small municipalities. None
of us (legislators) have come out and said we can support this legislation.”
The Public Affairs Research Council published
a commentary examining the key portions of Jindal’s tax reform plan citing both
pros and cons of the proposed legislation.
Among the proponents, it says, “service
industries make up a growing portion of modern economies. Capturing these
services in the sales tax base is a fairer allocation of the tax burden on a
broader set of economic transactions.
“The services sector is likely to provide
stronger annual growth in sales tax revenue than the good sector,” it
continues. “Taxes on services might also be seen as progressive, because
wealthier people tend to use more services...A widely spread sales tax that
includes both goods and services can offer a state the opportunity to lower the
overall sales tax rate and still sustain historic revenue levels.”
Among the opponents, PAR says, “expanding the
sales taxes to services is that such taxes tend to restrain growth in these
sectors. Maybe one of the reasons the service sector has been growing is
because it has not been subject to a sales tax. The Governor’s proposal
includes many services and excludes many others, putting the government in the
position of choosing winners and losers in the economic marketplace, rather
than attempting to cover all or nearly all types of services.”
One of the biggest challenges, it continues,
is establishing and enforcing rules on which types of service transactions are
taxable, what apportionment of collectible taxes belong on transactions
conducted by multi-state companies and what definitions will play a critical
role in determining how transactions are classified under the new law.
Jindal claims eliminating income taxes will create jobs,
he states in a press release by the governor’s office.
“First, eliminating income taxes will give
more control to the taxpayer,” Jindal
said. “Second, eliminating income taxes will make Louisiana the best place to
start a business. Third, in our plan, everyone will pay their fair share, but
no more than that. Fourth, our plan will close special interest loopholes.
Fifth, we are going to protect food, prescription drugs and utilities from
increased sales taxes. Sixth, and finally, by switching to a state sales tax
base, there will be more stability in funding for government services.”
Jefferson said many people he’s spoken to, including
clerics, small business owners and others, say this tax reform would put the
burden on the backs of the “least of these.”
“A lot of nonprofits will be taxed,” he said during the
Haynesville Town Council meeting in March. “We can’t balance what we need on
the backs of the ‘least of these.’ There is some waste, and I don’t believe
this proposal is best for Louisiana.”
At the Homer Lions Club, he closed out by saying,
“We all want the same thing -- a better Louisiana for our families to live and
work. We don’t want handouts. We want hand-ups.”
He also discussed five bills that have been
pre-filed with the Louisiana Legislature, session beginning Monday, April 8. They
are:
• HB No. 214 -- Provides relative to parental
involvement in public schools. The proposed house bill would authorize and
encourage “each public school governing authority to partner with individuals,
community and faith-based groups and organizations, and nonprofit and
for-profit entities to design and implement programs designed to increase
parental involvement in children’s education and schools.”
The proposed law would provide suggested
content for parenting classes at low or no cost to provide parents with
information and skills related to improving student performance. The bill
covers other areas as well, such as requiring public school governing
authorities to encourage and provide opportunities for any parent who
participate in parenting classes to encourage participation by other parents,
and authorizes public school governing authorities and the Department of
Education to identify available funding sources that may be used to provide for
such classes.
• HB No. 219 -- Provides criteria for
prospective adoptive parents. This proposed bill would help those with criminal
records adopt children by considering a certain set of criteria before making a
final decision. Those criteria would include the nature of the offenses, the
number of offenses committed and the length of time between offenses and
between the last offense committed and the application for court approval.
Present law requires the court to render a
decision approving or disproving placement of a child with the prospective
adoptive parents after a hearing on the matter, the digest of the bill states.
The proposed law “retains” present law in conjunction with considering the
“petitioner’s” criminal record. It also provides that the existence of a
petitioner’s criminal record not by itself serve as a bar to the petitioner
adopting.
• HB No. 292 -- This is a proposed bill to
authorize and provide for the transfer of state property in Lincoln Parish from
Louisiana State University to the City of Ruston, with the University of
Louisiana System retaining mineral rights.
• HB No. 624 -- Provides relative to leave
for new parents employed by school boards. Section 1. R.S. 17:1211 provides for
maternity leave for teachers with their tenure status unaffected, but the
proposed law would add to this section “parental leave for teachers and other
employees.” The proposed law would retain the present law but would require a
school board to grant up to seven days of leave to school board employees to
attend doctors’ visits related to maternal or infant health during the one year
period following the child’s birth. Such leave shall be provided without regard
to any remaining or accrued leave of any other type. It also provides that such
leave is subject to the approval by the same authority as applications for
extended sick leave but prohibits denial of such leave if all of the following
are documented: the date of birth of the child, the date of the visit to the
doctor and the visit was substantially related to the health of either the
mother or the infant, and if the visit was for the mother, the visit was
related to the birth of the child.
• HB No. 324 -- This proposed bill would
authorize an income tax rebate for donations to certain schools. It would
authorize an income tax rebate equal to 75 percent of a taxpayer’s donation to
public schools which received a letter grade of “B”, “C”, “D” or “F”.
This law would require that donations be used
by the public school for purchasing instructional materials and supplies, for
costs and expenses in establishing and maintaining tutorial programs, for costs
and expenses in establishing and maintaining in-school childcare programs for
students’ parents, school-based health clinics, or for meeting any of the
requirements prescribed in current rules and regulations for academically
unacceptable schools.
Jefferson said individuals, businesses and
organizations are able to donate to private and/or parochial schools but cannot
do so for public schools. This proposed bill would allow private citizens,
businesses and organizations to donate money directly to a particular school to
help with the aforementioned areas.
Session begins on Monday, April 8.
