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The Daily Review/Bill Decker
Amy Aucoin gets a hug from Mayor Louis Ratcliff after being recognized during the town council's Beacon Shines On presentation at Tuesday's meeting. Police Chief James Richard looks on. Aucoin has worked part-time for the town government for 30 years and was praised as "one of a kind" by Richard.

Changes ahead for Berwick; term limits have impact

Track pick-up fee may be going up

BERWICK — The town council contemplated changes Tuesday night, including a possible increase in the fee for trash pickup and plans for a new subdivision. The biggest changes will come in the council itself.
Council member and Mayor Pro-Tem Jacki Ackel announced at Tuesday’s council meeting that she won’t run for another term in the Nov. 6 primary and Dec. 8 general elections.
In addition to serving on the council, Ackel has become one of Berwick’s biggest boosters, promoting events such as the Lighthouse Festival and the monthly mixers for Berwick High students and senior citizens.
“I love this town, and I’d like to continue to serve,” Ackel said. “But I’m not in a position to do that right now.”
“You’ve been a real bright spot on the council,” fellow member Duval Arthur said.
Berwick will go into 2019 with a council that looks very different. Mayor Louis Ratcliff and council members Arthur, Damon Robison and Troy Lombardo can’t run for re-election to their current posts because of term limits.
“It’s been a good 12 years for me, a learning experience,” Ratcliff said.
With Ackel’s announcement, only council member Greg Roussel is in position to run again.
Ratcliff noted that Arthur is considering a run for mayor, and James Richard is a possible council candidate after he retires as police chief later this year.
Also Tuesday, the council introduced ordinances that would set the town property tax rates and increase the fee for residential trash pickup.
One proposed ordinance would maintain the current property tax rates: 12.12 mills for general operations, and a 6-mill tax approved by voters in 2002 for recreation, roads, public safety, cemeteries, water and sewer facilities, flood control and public health facilities.
A mill is 1/10th of a cent in tax applied to each dollar of assessed valuation. Assessed valuation is the percentage of a property’s market value to which the millage rate is applied.
Assessors are required to set the assessed valuation of residential property at 10 percent of its market value, which is reassessed every four years. Louisiana’s homestead exemption, which exempts the first $75,000 of a primary home’s market value from taxation, does not apply to municipal taxes.
The 18.12 mills would result in an annual town tax bill of $181.20 for a home with a market value of $100,000. That doesn’t include property taxes levied by the parish government, the school board and special purpose districts.
Another introductory ordinance would charge Berwick households more for trash pick-up. The ordinance would raise the monthly fee to $18 from the current $15.77.

And yet another introductory ordinance would reauthorize the $25-per-acre drainage fee paid by town landowners.
Public hearings and possible passage votes on the ordinances will be at the May 8 meeting.
In other action:
—The council approved a preliminary plat, or plan, for the proposed Southern Oaks Subdivision south of La. 182 near the Berwick Civic Center. The first phase of the project would consist of 16 residential lots of about half an acre each.
The preliminary plat isn’t the council’s final decision on whether the subdivision should be built. But it does allow developer Moffett Rental Enterprises LLC to move ahead with engineering plans.
—The council heard a generally positive audit report for the 2016-17 budget year from auditor Gerald Thibodeaux.
The fund balances, the accumulated excess of revenue over spending, are above the minimums recommended in government accounting standards, Thibodeaux said, and the town has controlled its expenses as revenue has fallen during the downturn in energy prices that began in 2014.
But Thibodeaux did sound a warning. The town natural gas and water systems took in $200,000 less from consumers than it cost to run the systems, Thibodeaux said, continuing a trend that began in 2012.
(The original version of this story incorrectly stated the name of the developer of Southern Oaks Subdivision. It also listed the name of the city trash pick-up contractor. both have been corrected.)

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