Avoyelles Police Jury will 'look at options' for solid waste program

Sales tax renewal approved; new millage proposal defeated

Voter rejection of a proposed 8-mill property tax to support the parishwide solid waste program “is not a disaster,” Avoyelles Police Jury President Charles Jones said. ““Had the sales tax been defeated, that would have caused some problems.”

Jones said he had expected the sales tax renewal to pass. “I felt we would be in a better position in the future with the property tax,” he added. Jones said he will ask jurors to form a “strategic planning working group” to discuss all of the possible options the Police Jury may have to address long-range solutions to the garbage issue and other major issues impacting the parish’s progress.

The new 8-mill property tax to support the solid waste program was defeated with 62 percent of voters saying “No.” Only 18.2 percent of voters cast ballots on the proposition.

CONTRACT RENEWS IN 2020

The garbage collection/disposal contract comes up for renewal in 2020. The price went up $250,000 a year when it was renewed a few years ago. Jurors fear the contractor will hike the price by at least that month at the next renewal.

The plan was to use the 8-mill tax proceeds to build a garbage transfer station at the Parish Barn over the next two years and then split the garbage contract into three contracts -- collection, hauling and landfill disposal.

The reasoning is there would be more competition for the collection and hauling alone. The parish would enter into a long-term contract with a public landfill to control the cost of disposal. Currently the parish has one contractor providing all three services. This “monopoly” situation leaves the parish with no way to control the cost. “It will be business as usual for the next two years,” Jones said. “At renewal time, we will have to put our money on the table, tell them, ‘This is all there is,’ and see what level of service they can provide us for that amount.”

If the amount of tax revenue is not enough to secure the services of the contractor, Jones said the parish would have to discontinue providing the public service of residential pickup.

“We would still provide collection of white goods, scrap metal, old tires, debris, etc. that we do through the Parish Barn,” he noted.

Jones noted that the Solid Waste Fund has accumulated a $5 million reserve over the years. With the recent rate hike, the fund is operating at just a little over break-even and has not been able to add much to that surplus over the past few years.

“We can use the reserve to continue providing the service for awhile, but when we spend it all it will be gone,” he added.

ALL TAX RENEWALS PASS

Less than 19 percent of Avoyelles Parish voters cast ballots in the Dec. 8 election. The measure attracting the least attention was 16.8 percent for the Secretary of State special election runoff.

All tax renewals on the Dec. 8 ballot were approved.

The Fire District 2 10-mill tax was easily renewed with71 percent of voters approving. The district includes all of the parish except Ward 1 north of Red River and inside the Marksville city limits, with 18.2 percent of voters participating.

Hospital District 1 in Bunkie renewed its 4.9-mill property tax with 81 percent voting yes, also with an 18.2 percent turnout.

The main event at the polls was the parishwide tax package. It was intended to be one three-part proposition, but a “miscommunication” in Baton Rouge resulted in the three parts being listed as separate propositions.

The result was the renewal of a 3/4-cent sales tax for solid waste collection and disposal was renewed on a 68 percent to 32 percent vote. The 1/4-cent sales tax for parish roads and bridges was renewed 66 percent to 34 percent. There were 18.4 percent of voters casting ballots to renew them.

Jones said he appreciated the voters’ renewal of the 1-cent sales tax. The Police Jury will focus now on how to continue providing garbage collection for the parish with the available funds.

SMALL WINS APSB DISTRICT 1 RUNOFF

Latisha Small edged out Marian Gonzales by 26 votes, or 52 percent of the vote, to win the District 1 School Board seat in a runoff election. Small received 289 votes to Gonzales’ 263.

Both women are political newcomers and will fill the seat held for many years by the late Freeman Ford. Jeralyn Young was appointed earlier this year to fill Ford’s unexpired term. Young chose not to seek election to the seat.

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