Chairman Beadle: Opportunity to reduce tax burden

St. Mary Parish Council Chairman Gabriel Beadle outlined a plan to reduce tax burdens for parish businesses.
“When I started four years ago, we had a budget of $44 million,” he said. “This council has streamlined that budget into $38 million. That’s a decrease of 33%. As a business owner, we’ve always contracted our companies the same way to alleviate the financial turmoil that many of us are going through.”
Beadle noted that the council has consolidated many of its boards. “Here’s my question,” Beadle went on. “How do we ensure that the savings that we give to these boards actually reach the taxpayers, reach the businesses, because that’s how change occurs.”
He said if each board can let loose of 10% of its fund balances, millages could decrease. “If all give back just 1 mill, that’s 10% that they give back to business owners,” he said. “We have people…frustrated, just pull up your news feed on Facebook. People in this parish are just frustrated about losing businesses and other businesses going other places. That’s the way you get businesses involved here: Streamline our tax structure, decrease our taxes to be more competitive with parishes that have a better tax structure and a lower tax rate than we do.”
Councilman Glen Hidalgo noted that the council can’t force boards and commissions to comply.
“All of us are getting hammered in that we’re not doing anything to save businesses here,” Beadle said.
Councilman Craig Mathews added that some districts are barely scraping by on available tax funds. “But there are others that can trim some of that fat,” he said. “Some members of those boards don’t have a keen understanding of the taxing structure.”
He suggested an informational program to demonstrate the issues and solutions.
Parish President David Hanagriff said the council can “do a better job, get these individuals that are on these board, don’t bring them on because they’re your buddies, because it’s a political favor or because you need a certain quota…put good, civic-minded persons on these boards, responsible people...if you have a bad board, it reflects on the council and the administration.”
Other items from Wednesday’s meeting included:
—Meeting dates were changed in November to the 13th and 20th, and December 11th and 18th.
—Ordinances introduced designating a 120-day waiting period before re-introducing an ordinance that has failed; and installation of a three-way stop at the intersection of Barrow and Percy streets in Amelia.
—An ordinance was passed for installation of a four-way stop at the intersection of Universe Boulevard and Saturn Road in Bayou Vista.
—Chairman Gabriel Beadle cautioned motorists to be aware of work being done on the US 90 bridge over the Atchafalaya River and to drive carefully.
—Resolutions were approved to request capital outlay fundings from the state for: Upgrades to Fairview Treament Center in Bayou Vista; installation of culverts and associated infrastructure at Middle Road in Bayou Vista for Gravity Sub-drainage District No. 1 of Gravity Drainage District No. 2; improvements at Harry P. Williams Memorial Airport; reconstruction of Flattown Road from Chitimacha Trail to Ralph Darden Parkway; Charenton Beach Road; construction of a training facility at the Port of West St. Mary’s Charenton Canal Industrial Park; replacement of ball field lighting at Kemper Williams Park; hard surfacing of the Atchafalaya Basin Levee Road from Charenton Beach to the St. Mary/Iberia Parish lines; construction of a new fire station for Fire Protection Dist. 11 in Four Corners; rehabilitation of the Morgan City Sheriff’s Office building to become the Sheriff’s Regional Operations and Training Center; installation of a video conferencing system and emergency power improvements at the courthouse; reconstruction of Martin Luther King Street to Creek Drive in Charenton; overlay of St. Peter Road to Admiral Doyle Drive; handicap accessibility and exterior and interior improvements to the former St. Mary Parish Tourist Building near Patterson; capital improvements and construction for St. Mary Parish Recreation Dist. 3, Bayou Vista; an amendment to professional services regarding Pump Station No. 2; a change order to Yokely Levee improvements, and a substantial completion certificate for the project.
—Appointments to the Atchafalaya Golf Course Commission were postponed to the next meeting; appointments to the Fire Protection Dist. 3 board in Amelia were Doyle P. Corrales and Bonnie S. Duhon (incumbent member); appointments to the Recreation Dist. 1 board were Janice R. Aucoin and Randy Bijeaux; and five vacancies to the Water and Sewer Commission No. 1, Amelia, appointments were tabled.