Council of Governments says thank you to former Rep. Jones

FRANKLIN — The St. Mary Council of Governments said hello to a near year and thanked an old friend Monday.
At the first meeting of 2020, Berwick Mayor Duval Arthur brought up the latter item under “old business.”
“Real old,” Arthur said.
He was taking a joking jab at former state Rep. Sam Jones, who stepped down recently after three terms representing House District 50. The district covers most of St. Mary Parish.
Before his election to the House, Jones served as Franklin’s mayor
Jones, D-Franklin, sat during the meeting with his successor, Vincent St. Blanc, R-Franklin.
Arthur and the current Franklin mayor, Eugene Foulcard, presented Jones with a plaque in recognition of his service.
Jones told the gathered government officials that he has accumulated 47 years of public service.
“Who would want to do that?” Jones joked.
But he also talked with pride about obtaining funding for infrastructure work in the parish, including the Emergency Operations Center in Morgan City and roads and bridges in the area.
He talked about a Legislature that is becoming more partisan along traditional ideological lines.
“It’s not just policy,” Jones said. “You have to bring home some bacon once in a while.”
Also Monday, the government officials saw a 2019 sales tax report that points to a continuing but slow economic recovery.
The St. Mary Parish Sales & Use Tax Analysis of the 4.3% sales tax shows total collections of $37.4 million in 2019, up about 3.6% from 2018.
But the growth was attributable to audit collections, which more than doubled year over year to nearly $2.7 million.
Collections at the cash register were down 0.42% in 2019.
Nearly two-thirds of the 2019 audit collections occurred in the fourth quarter.
Collections without audits were up 1.22% in the first quarter, 0.2% in the second quarter and 0.85% in the third quarter before slumping in the fourth quarter.
The biggest single sales tax source categories included restaurant and fast food, accounting for 15% of collections; the industrial group, 12%; and department stores and automobile sales, 11% each.
The “other” category accounted for 18%.