Rep. Jones: Parish receives state money for roads

Rep. Sam Jones was the last to take the podium at a St. Mary Parish Council public hearing on an ordinance that would have created a taxing district for road construction and maintenance on the west end of the parish.
Though Councilman Dale Rogers announced that he would pull the ordinance, those who wished to speak, were allowed.
Jones, state representative for Dist. 50, said he was opposed.
“Here’s the problem that the parish council has,” Jones said. “And I’m going to put some burden on you with this…somewhere in the last 10 years, the state has sent to the parish, between royalty road money, severance taxes and transportation funds, more than $40 million.”
He said during the state’s resurfacing of La. 87 that “the approaches to the bridges are not state roads. Those are parish roads. And you wouldn’t fix it. When you finally did, I found out that you used LGAP (Local Government Assistance Program) money to do that. This fund is called the ‘royalty road fun.’ It means that 10 percent of all royalties collected under the public lands of this parish come back to the parish council. This is in the (state) constitution, to support a road and infrastructure building process and program.”
Jones said decades ago, the legislature removed some restrictions from that fund and in some places “that money has gone into the black hole of government.”
“There comes a moment when you need some self-introspection about consolidation (of parish districts), or at least some investigation of, where did this money go?” Jones said. “We got rid of the Police Jury in 1983, but there was one thing they could do: They could build roads. We haven’t fixed an old road, built a new road in the parish system in 20 years.”
He noted that the parish recently paid off a bond issue that was dedicated to roads. “Where did the money go that was paying for that bond?” he asked.
Parish President David Hanagriff replied that while he agrees with Jones, he had Chief Administrative Officer Henry “Bo” LaGrange prepare a report on the royal road fund.
LaGrange said over the last seven years the parish collected royalty road funds, transportation fund money, payments for grass cutting on US 90 and the levees from the St. Mary Levee District, totaling $45 million.
—63.5 percent was spent for operation and maintenance expenses, such as road crews, bridges, operations, the Avoca Ferry, fuel, etc.
—16 percent went to the general fund.
—6.5 percent went to the parish capital improvement fund, mostly to match requirements for grants received.
—14 percent went to bond payments.
Hanagriff said he was against the sales tax. “It’s on half the parish,” he said. “To have it only on one end and not the entire parish, I don’t think is right. It would cause a disadvantage to the west end of the parish (economically.)”
He said it’s “the worst time ever to pass a sales tax” when Louisiana already has the highest sales tax rate in the nation.
“At the end of the day you’re the fiduciary responsible for this parish,” Jones said. “And you’re the ones responsible for making the decisions what you’re priorities are.”
Hanagriff confirmed that the administration is working on a plan for roads. “We’re looking at getting creative, and looking at bonding some money were we can, but we have to be conservative. Because, if (the economy) goes down further, we’re on the hook for those funds.”
Jones noted that Hanagriff was a parish councilman for eight years before being elected parish president. He said Sen. Bret Allain is also opposed to the potential tax.
“I’m just thirsty to see some kind of plan, and the effort that Sen. Allain and I have made to bring money here, to just be met,” he said.
Hanagriff said he is committed to coming up with a plan for roads by the end of the year.
That plan, Jones advised, should be fair to the unincorporated area and the municipalities.
Councilman Gabriel Beadle said the parish has been making efforts to save money and cut expenses. He said the parish’s effort to consolidate districts and boards is paying off.
“We bring in $48 million in property taxes across the parish,” Beadle said. “Our budget here is only $44 million. If you take out Hospital Service District No. 1, the school board, the sheriff’s office, you’re still left with $16 million in property taxes.”
Beadle said each district’s audit reveals tax collections and assets. He said there is $54 million in assets, unrestricted funds.
“So when we’re talking about funds for roads, there’s your funds for roads,” Beadle declared. “It’s right there in front of us. But we don’t want to touch that because they’re spread out all throughout the parish in these tiny districts. We don’t want to look into those monies because of people sitting on those boards that are taking care of those monies.”
As an example he said Recreation District 2 has a 17 mills property tax, and has $4.2 million “in the checking account. Is that all right for a recreation district? I don’t know, but let’s find out.”
Beadle added that of the 42 boards, “I guarantee I could find 10-18 percent for roads. If we took 10 percent out of every single ad valorem tax we’d have $4.9 million to put toward roads. There it is, right there, in one year.”
He cited numerous examples of governmental districts sitting on various sized cash assets.
Beadle added that he’s not suggesting taking all funds, but determining what a district needs to operate and a certain amount set aside for needs.
Jones countered that “those recreation districts take care of our children. I remember when we had more children in the ballpark than on the street. Now it seems that’s the other way around.”