Wiley elected in Avoyelles Police Jury District 1

In the only election for a public office on the Avoyelles Parish ballot, Darrell Wiley defeated Tracey Bryant in the special election in Police Jury District 1 with 59 percent of the votes cast.

Bryant was the acting incumbent, having been appointed when her father, Elzie Bryant, died.

Wiley is a former Avoyelles School Board member and husband of the immediate past District 1 juror, Marsha Wiley.

Wiley received 433 votes to Bryant's 305. Approximately 25.4 percent of the district's voters cast ballots in the election.

That was over twice of the overall voter turnout in the parish of 10.4 percent. The only items on the ballot elsewhere in the parish were four proposed constitutional amendments.

Avoyelles' parishwide turnout was lower than the state's 13.7 percent.

Only one of the constitutional amendments passed statewide. Proposition 2 allows the state to reduce the individual income rate but also allows the state to eliminate the state income tax credit for federal income taxes that were paid.

Statewide that proposition received 54 percent of the votes. Avoyelles voters supported it with 56 percent of the ballots cast.

This will reduce the maximum rate of individual income tax from 6 percent to 4.75 percent and changes the deduction for federal income taxes paid from mandatory to permissive. This means that until now, the state had to allow federal income tax payments to be declared as a deduction on state income tax. Under this amendment, the state could eliminate that deduction or allow it to remain.

By a statewide vote of 52-48 percent, voters defeated a proposition to allow the Legislature to enact laws regarding the streamlined electronic filing, remittance, and collection of sales and use taxes and to authorize a state commission to make policy for all governing agencies receiving sales taxes.

It was supported by 55 percent of Avoyelles voters.

A proposition to allow levee boards to seek voter approval for property taxes was defeated with 58 percent of the state's voters opposed. In Avoyelles it was rejected by a 65-37 percent margin.

Proposition No. 4 suffered the biggest defeat, 72 percent to 28 percent. It would have allowed the Legislature to increase its appropriations from various funds from 5 percent to 10 percent to cover a projected deficit. Avoyelles voters also rejected the proposition with a 72 percent "No" vote.