Committee holds first meeting about millages

Published 12:00 am Thursday, June 7, 2018

The Iberia Parish ad-hoc committee on millages buckled in for the first of several committee meetings on the state of property taxes Wednesday night.  

The committee, made up of Parish Council members and local residents, covered a brief overview of how millages are broken down in Iberia Parish Government and how they could be improved. 

Once the group adjourns for good, they plan on providing the Iberia Parish Council with a set of recommendations on how to improve millages in the parish. That could mean redistributing, raising or lowering parish taxes. 

“Speaking for myself, I think this committee was formed to look at millages and make sure they fit the times we’re in today, there’s a possibility we could end this thing and we don’t do anything,” Brian Napier said. 

The discussion focused on listing a set of priorities that parish government is mandated by the state to spend money on, such as jail maintenance and courts, and then focusing on what could be changed or shifted with the remaining funds in the parish budget. 

Although this wasn’t the meeting for long-term suggestions, the committee toyed with several ideas for improving the parish, such as rededicating some parts of the library’s millages and giving the Acadiana Regional Airport a source of revenue. 

But whatever ideas are hashed out would only take effect if those recommendations are approved by the Parish Council and then voted on by the people. 

“We need some kind of strategic plan where we say here’s what we have to pay for, and then look at what we have money left. There doesn’t seem to be any concise master plan of how much money we have coming in, and what we can redirect,” committee member Pat Caffery said. 

“That’s what we’re here to find out,” Napier responded.