Hospital, school taxes on ballot as early voting opens Friday

St. Mary residents have decisions to make about education and health care in a very concrete way.
A new property tax to fund repairs and upgrades at Ochsner St. Mary in Morgan City and renewals for property taxes in all three school maintenance districts will be on the ballot when early voting for the Dec. 7 general election opens Friday.
St. Mary residents have their choice of three early voting sites: the Registrar of Voters Office at the Parish Courthouse in Franklin, the Sales Tax Office at 301 Third St., Morgan City, and the West St. Mary Civic Center.
Early voting will run through Nov. 30 except for Sunday, Nov. 24, Thanksgiving, Nov. 28, and Acadian Day, Nov. 29.
On Friday, Nov. 22, the voting hours will be 8 a.m.-6 p.m. On each voting day beginning Saturday, Nov. 23, the hours will be 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m.
Hospital tax
Residents of St. Mary Hospital Service District No. 2 put the 9-mill tax on the ballot. The district, which covers the eastern parish, owns the Morgan City hospital operated by Ochsner Health under lease.
The 9-mill tax would raise about $3.4 million per year to be used “to improve, maintain, operate and support hospital and other health care facilities in the District, including but not limited to repairing existing facilities, acquiring equipment, and otherwise supporting the provision of hospital services.”
The district says the tax would cost the owner of a $125,000 primary residence about $45 a year.
The “the otherwise supporting” language includes scholarships for local people entering health care fields. But the bulk of the money appears to be destined for improvements for a hospital building that is showing its age at 45 years old.
The problems were exacerbated by Hurricane Francine on Sept. 11. The minutes of a district board meeting Sept. 13 quote the board chairman, Dr. William Cefalu Jr., and Chief Nursing Officer Jennifer Wise as saying blowers and dehumidifiers had been installed to deal with moisture affecting all rooms.
There was flooding on the third floor, “rain in the pharmacy, the windows were leaking and Respiratory Therapy had to be relocated.”
People who would have been admitted to the hospital were sent to Ochsner St. Anne’s in Raceland.
School
maintenance
Residents across the parish will be asked to renew property taxes for building and maintenance in the three maintenance districts, each for 10 years.
—12.42 mills in the eastern portion of the parish, expected to raise about $2.6 million a year.
—12.73 mills in District 2, the central portion of the parish, expected to raise about $2.2 million per year.
—12.53 mills in District 3, the eastern portion of the parish, expected to raise about $2.8 million per year.
Also on ballots in specific districts around the parish:
—Consolidated Gravity Drainage District No. 1 is seeking a 7.81-mill renewal, raising about $1.8 million a year.
—Baldwin voters are being asked to impose a 1% sales tax to raise $180,000 a year for public safety.
—Franklin is asking voters for a 1% sales tax to raise $1.3 million to operate and maintain the police and fire departments.
Four state constitutional amendments are also on the ballot. The summaries, with analysis from the Public Affairs Research Council:
Amendment 1: “Do you support an amendment to allow the supreme court to sanction a judge upon an investigation by the judiciary commission, and provide that the recommended sanction shall be instituted by the judiciary commission or by a majority of the supreme court, and to provide for the appointment of five members of the judiciary commission?”
The state Supreme Court can’t sanction a judge for misconduct until a judiciary commission investigates the matter, and critics say the commission often moves too slowly. The amendment would expand the number of commission members to 14 to nine and give the state Supreme Court more input in the process, and allow the high court to temporarily suspend a judge during an investigation without a commission ruling.
Amendment 2: “Do you support an amendment to require that the legislature wait for at least forty-eight hours prior to concurring in a conference committee report or amendments to a bill appropriating money?”
The amendment is designed to prevent an unseemly and possibly mistaken scramble to pass appropriations bills in the final minutes of a session, such as happened in 2023.
Amendment 3: “Do you support an amendment to allow the legislature to extend a regular session in increments of two days up to a maximum of six days if necessary to pass a bill appropriating money?”
Again, the amendment is proposed to give lawmakers time to consider appropriation bills thoroughly before passage, even as the constitutional deadline for a session to end draw near.
Amendment 4: “Do you support an amendment to eliminate mandatory tax sales for nonpayment of property taxes and require the legislature to provide for such procedures by law; to limit the amount of penalty and interest on delinquent property taxes; and to provide for the postponement of property tax payments under certain circumstances?”
PAR characterizes the amendment as an attempt to move from a tax sale system to a tax lien system to deal with nonpayment of property taxes.
Rather than an outright sale of property on which taxes are delinquent, a lien on the property would be auctioned, offering the property owner more options for getting back into compliance.