First responders, hospital district make their cases to the Parish Council

The St. Mary Parish Council heard appeals for support of two tax-related matters at Wednesday’s meeting, and seems inclined to go along with both.
Representatives of Hospital Service District No. 2 made a pitch for a 9-mill property tax, mostly for keeping up the Ochsner St. Mary physical plant, which Ochsner runs but the district owns.
And first responders sought and received a resolution offering a property tax break to first responders.
The council also saw some elbows thrown by Parish President Sam Jones and Councilman the Rev. Craig Mathews, who chairs the council’s budget committee, over Jones’ 2025 budget message.
Councilman David Hill of Bayou Vista wanted to know why debris is still lining streets in his district six weeks after Hurricane Francine.
Finally, the council passed a resolution of respect for a woman who adopted Sorrel Community Park, seeing that it’s kept up and putting people in the park for special events.
Hospital
tax proposal
Residents of Hospital Service District No. 2 will be asked Dec. 7 to approve the 9-mill property tax, expected to raise $3.4 million a year and last 10 years.
Dr. William Cefalu Jr., who chairs the district board and practices at Ochsner St. Mary, said the 45-year-old hospital building needs repairs. District counsel Bill Bourgeois said the repairs include sealing the building against moisture, watertight windows and a new air conditioning system.
“We’re talking about the future of our hospital, the future of our community and our ability to keep good tenants,” Cefalu said.
Ochsner has invested millions in the hospital and has made a difference there since taking over hospital operations in 2019, just before the COVID pandemic, Cefalu said. But he said Ochsner, the state’s biggest private health care system, doesn’t want to be saddled with fixing leaking roofs.
The hospital accounts for more than 45,000 outpatient visits, nearly 2,000 clinical visits and nearly 25,000 emergency room visits, he said.
“We touch a lot of lives at our hospital,” Cefalu said.
He said the hospital acquired a negative reputation for some, and when it was named Lakewood Hospital, some called it “Deadwood.”
“Deadwood is dead,” Cefalu said. “We are Ochsner St. Mary, and our facility provides excellent care.”
Dr. Kristi Prejeant Rink of Centerville, who also practices at the hospital, said the Leapfrog Group’s rating of patent safety in hospitals gives Ochsner St. Mary a good grade.
The Leapfrog website gives the Morgan City hospital an A grade for patient safety.
First
responders
Capt. John Schaff of the Morgan City Police Department came to the council representing Fraternal Order of Police Atchafalaya Lodge No. 62. He asked the council to take action on state constitutional amendment approved by voters last year to provide tax relief for first responders.
The act allows parishes to boost the homestead exemption for law enforcement officers and firefighters.
Louisiana’s homestead exemption protects the first $7,500 of a primary home’s assessed valuation from parish — but not city — property taxes. Residential property is assessed on 10% of its market value as determined by the parish assessor.
The resolution approved by the council Wednesday adds another $2,500 to the exemption for first responders as long as they’re on active duty.
The added exemption would affect 250 first responders and cost local governments a total of about $40,000.
Rink noted that the cost is spread among local governments.
“I don’t think that’s going to be a huge financial blow to our political subdivisions,” she said.
And she noted that Acadian Ambulance personnel, about 12 of whom live and own homes in St. Mary, won’t be eligible under the amendment because they work for a private company.
“I do think there are issues with the act itself, but I think that’s something we have to deal with with our state representatives and state senator,” Rink said.
The resolution supporting the exemption passed by a 10-0 vote.
Budget time
Jones read a letter that accompanies his proposed 2025 budget, which was introduced by the council Wednesday along with a five-year capital projects budget.
Jones ran for the presidency in 2023 by saying the parish had too much debt, including a $20 million bond issue for road projects that was shared with municipal governments. He’d also charged that the parish was having trouble meeting its payroll.
There was talk at the time of a potential $2 million shortfall.
In his letter, Jones said that after taking office, he found that the situation was worse than he had thought, and that the potential shortfall was more like $3 million.
His letter, a portion of which was read by Chief Administrative Officer Paul Governale because Jones said the print was too small for him, included a list of accomplishments when he was a state legislator and repeated a complaint that the parish wasn’t taking advantage of funding that the state could have provided.
Jones ended the letter on an upbeat note, saying the council has pitched in to work on the budget.
Mathews objected, offering thanks to Governale for getting through the letter.
“Ninety percent of what we just heard has nothing to do with the parish budget ...,” Mathews said. “I’m taken back by all the attacks I heard. If we’re going to improve the parish, we’re going to have to get past the innuendo.”
But Jones denied that the letter contained anything negative.
One bit of potential good news came from the discussion. Jones said that he believes funding from the state Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority will be available for improving pumps in Gravity Drainage District No. 2, which serves Morgan City.
The pumps struggled to deal with flooding during Hurricane Francine. Jones said 350 homes in Morgan City were flooded.
The National Weather Service said an estimated 6 to 10 inches of rain fell on eastern St. Mary during the Sept. 11 storm, and was heaviest in the eastern parish. Morgan City Mayor Lee Dragna has been quoted as saying the rainfall amounted to 20 inches or more in the city.
Debris pickup
Hill called the amount of hurricane debris awaiting pickup in Bayou Vista “ridiculous” and pointed to piles on both sides of Myrtle Street.
“If I have this much debris in my district, what else is out there?” Hill said.
Jones replied that some residents were putting out debris multiple times.
“We’re doing as much as we can as fast as we can,” Jones said.
Hill wanted to know why the parish didn’t hire a contractor to pick up the debris if it doesn’t have enough personnel. The answer was lack of funds.
Hill tried to move to require the parish to hire a contractor during future storm cleanup, but that will have to wait for an ordinance or a resolution.
Respect
The council passed a resolution of respect for Laddy Jean Butlers of Sorrel, who died Oct. 14. Butlers was 70.
Mathews introduced the resolution and said Butlers advocated for cleanup and improvements at Sorrel Community Park, and put on Thanksgiving turkey giveaways, high school picnics and meet-the-candidate events there.