Early voting on tax renewal begins Saturday

Early voting for the Oct. 11 election opens Saturday with a School Board sales tax renewal on the ballot.
Early voting will run Saturday through Oct. 4, excluding Sunday. The hours are 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Registered voters can cast early ballots either at the St. Mary Parish Courthouse in Franklin or the Registrar of Voters Office, 301 Third St., Morgan City.
On Oct. 11, voting will be 7 a.m.-8 p.m. at individual precinct locations.
The parishwide proposition renews for five years a 0.45% sales tax dedicated to teacher and staff salaries. The renewal would be for five years. The tax is expected to raise $5.1 million a year.
Before it first passed on March 20, 2021, the tax was more controversial than the 62%-38% approval margin might suggest.
The board first proposed a 0.5% sales tax for staff pay and a technology fund.
Before it first passed on March 20, 2021, the tax was more controversial than the 62%-38% approval margin might suggest.
Local officials criticized the proposal for its economic impact. Then-state Sen. Bret Allain, a member of the State Bond Commission, objected to the technology fund dedication and threatened to support moving the proposition from an off-cycle municipal election date to a November election date, when passage was considered to be more difficult.
The board came back with a proposal for a 0.45% tax with no technology fund dedication.
The proposition passed in an election with a 15% turnout.
In 2021, the tax was expected to raise $3.9 million a year.
School officials said the resulting $3,000 raise for certified employees and the $1,500 raise for other staff members were needed to attract and maintain quality employees, especially after Lafourche Parish passed a teacher pay tax of its own.
At the Sept. 11, 2025, School Board meeting, Superintendent Dr. Buffy Fegenbush said the tax revenue has affected an average of 1,200 employees a year since collections began in 2021.
“These funds help the school system maintain competitive compensation and provide stability in classrooms and services,” Fegenbush said.
As of Sept. 1, St. Mary had 30,425 registered voters. The Republican and Democratic parties each claim about 35% of the parish’s voters, and the rest belong to no party.
Here’s the full text of the proposition:
Shall the Parish School Board of the Parish of St. Mary, State of Louisiana (the “School Board”), be authorized to continue to levy and collect a sales and use tax of 0.45% (the “Tax”), for a period of 5 years, beginning July 1, 2026, in accordance with Louisiana law (an estimated $5,100,000 reasonably expected at this time to be collected from the levy of the Tax for an entire year), with the proceeds of the Tax (after paying the reasonable and necessary expenses of collecting and administering the Tax) to be dedicated and used to supplement salaries and benefits paid by the School Board for teachers and other personnel employed by the School Board?