Patterson City Council will look at 2021 tax rates

The Patterson City Council will consider introducing ordinances that will set city property tax rates for the year and take another run at setting rules for subdividing land into what are known as “flag lots.”
The council will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Patterson City Hall, 1314 Main St. To comply with COVID-19 rules, the audience is limited to 25% of capacity, and masks are required.
Two ordinances on the agenda for introduction set property tax rates for 2021. The taxes are an 8.30-mill levy for general city operations and a 14-mill tax for the waterworks bond issue.
A mill is 1/10th cent of tax applied to each dollar of a property’s assessed valuation. Residential property is assessed at 10% of its market value.
The 8.3 mills add $83 to the tax bill for a home with a market value of $100,000. The 14 mills add $140 to the bill for a $100,000 home. Louisiana’s homestead exemption does not apply to city property taxes.
If the council introduces the ordinances, a final passage vote would occur at the April 6 meeting.
Also on the agenda is introduction of an ordinance regulating a certain kind of lot.
When a tract is subdivided into two lots, one of the lots may not have its own street frontage. So a thin strip of land through the lot with direct frontage may be set aside for access to the street and to utility infrastructure.
On plats, the thin strip resembles a flag pole and the new lot resembles a flag, so they’re called flag lots.
At the Feb. 2 meeting, the council looked at an ordinance that would allow the flag pole strip to be either part of the new lot or a perpetual right of way through the lot with direct street frontage.
But William Gil, who was at the meeting to be introduced as the city’s new planning and zoning officer, said parish authorities require the strip to be part of the new lot and not just a right of way.
The new ordinance is likely to take that view into account.
Also on the agenda for Tuesday:
—An introductory ordinance creating the Patterson Municipal Cemetery.
—A request for a trailer park at 1130 Lia St.
—A request to subdivide property on Freeman Street.