Avoyelles Police Jury pulls courthouse remodeling tax from December ballot

Voters won't have to decide in December whether to approve a parishwide 1/4-cent sales tax to remodel and repair the 93-year-old courthouse The proposition will be pulled from the ballot.

Meanwhile, the parish is considering using a proposed FEMA-funded safety shelter to house a third courtroom in the state approves a third judgeship for the 12th Judicial District.

The tax would have paid to remodel the third floor to enlarge the two courtrooms, create public restrooms and improve security by keeping inmates separated from the general public during court
appearances. It also would have paid to renovate part of the second floor to be used for judges’ offices.

The parish would still have had to find a home for a third courtroom and judge even if the 1/4-cent sales tax had been sought and approved.

The possible economic impact of COVID-19 caused Avoyelles police jurors to second-guess the wisdom of pursuing a tax that almost everyone said had two chances of passing -- fat and slim.

Police Jury President Kirby Roy said the consensus position of jurors, District Attorney Charles Riddle and Judges William Bennett and Kerry Spruill is that this is not the right time to ask voters for an additional sales tax.

While Roy said he can "unofficially" say the sales tax election is off, the election is expected to officially be canceled at the Police Jury meeting on June 9.

Canceling the tax election will not only save the parish the $22,000 cost to hold the December election, but also "engineering fees, campaigning time, headaches and embarrassment. Embarrassment in
that I do not think this had a chance to pass," Roy said.

"With sales tax revenue down, the economy unpredictable, COVID-19 and our courthouse woes, it's just not the thing to do at this time," Roy added.

Another possible benefit to canceling that tax is that it could allow the Police Jury to seek a tax for parish road improvements in the near future.

All this means there will be no $3.5 million remodeling of the courthouse anytime soon.

In light of that decision, the Permit Office will swap its 2nd floor location with Emergency Preparedness' 1st floor office. That trade will take about a month to complete. That will allow easier public access to the Permit Office and put it closer to the Clerk of Court's office, which contains permits often needed during a permit process.

NEW BUILDING

Roy said it appears a proposed FEMA grant-funded "safe room" for an emergency storm shelter to be constructed near the courthouse will be approved and begun in the near future. That project will cost about
$1 million.

Once the building is finished, the Emergency Preparedness Office will move there and the Veterans Affairs Office will move from its location at the Council on Aging building to the 2nd floor of the
courthouse.

It has also been suggested that a proposed third courtroom could be housed in the "safe room," as long as all courtroom furnishings were portable and could be moved and stored quickly in the event the
building is needed as an emergency shelter.

If the Police Jury had proceeded with renovations in the courthouse, some parish agencies would have needed to be relocated to what was nicknamed the "One Stop Shop" or Parish Services Building is not just postponed but dead. The project called for the parish to purchase and remodel a vacant building near the courthouse to house various parish agencies now in the courthouse.

"We have too many other issues to contend with at this time," he said.