IPSB votes to waive ad valorem tax for Bagwell Energy Services
Published 9:00 am Thursday, July 18, 2019
- IPSB member Elvin Pradia talks about financial straits of the School Board during the discussion Wednesday.
The Iberia Parish School Board voted to approve waiving the ad valorem tax on inventory for Bagwell Energy Services, though not without considerable debate before the vote was made.
Rebecca Shirley with One Acadiana was present at Wednesday night’s meeting to speak for Bagwell Energy Services, which recently moved its company headquarters back into Iberia Parish at the Port of Delcambre.
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“This company has come back to the Port of Delcambre and is renovating the facility. Their projection was to create 150 jobs in a much longer period but I think they’ve already created 135 of where they are right now.
“That’s about 24 months or so into the project. Their total investment is $2.5 million, improvements they are making to those facilities.”
Board Chairman Dana Dugas said the exemption was given to businesses moving or expanding in the parish.
“The reason is to invite businesses into the area, as we’ve done in the past where we grant exemptions for businesses to relocate here or expand,” Dugas said. “Two years ago we had zero employees there. Today we have 135.”
The approval for the exemption was formerly made by the state of Louisiana. Dugas said the responsibility was handed off to local governments after a decision was made recently.
Board member Elvin Pradia, who questioned the exemption, said the IPSB has been under financial constraints and even been forced to close several schools recently.
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“I want to know, you have 135 people, how many kids do those 135 people bring into the parish?” Pradia asked. “You can’t answer that but we’re expected to educate all of those kids.
“You’re asking us to give you money and keep us from having the same amount of money we need to educate those kids. We had to close three schools because we can’t afford to have them. We keep giving away but y’all expect us to keep doing the same thing that we’ve been doing.”
After several more minutes of discussion, the board voted 10-3 to grant the exemption. Board member Raymond “Shoe-Do” Lewis was absent.
