Green building fate delayed to 2016

The Iberia Parish Council will meet tonight to discuss new millage rates for 2019.

The millage rate discussion took a turn in recent weeks as council members learned that the current .76 mills being collected for Courthouse and Jail Operations may go away in coming months. At its meeting last week, the council’s Ad Hoc Millage Committee recommended rolling all existing millages with the exception of the Parish Library Operating Fund millage to their maximum and dropping the .76 mill Courthouse and Jail millage to zero. 

The council will discuss the recommendations from the Ad Hoc Committee during its finance Committee hearing after the regular meeting Wednesday night.

The challenge for the council will be getting the 10 votes necessary to roll forward the millages to make up for zeroing out the Courthouse and Jail millage.

The final vote on the millages for 2019 will be held at the council’s regular meeting on May 8.

The bulk of the parish’s commitment to the courthouse and jail are already being drawn from other funding sources, such as the parish’s Health Unit millage and the Building Maintenance budget. The Courthouse and Jail millage currently raises about $136,000 annually, far less than the $2 million council members estimate the courthouse and jail operations actually cost.

The resulting reassignment of millages would result in an increase of .15 mills overall, but would leave the parish in a better financial position if its auditor recommends not collecting the Courthouse and Jail millage.

In other business, the council is scheduled to:

• Reappoint two members to the Jeanerette Veterans Memorial Building board.

• Vote on paying $12,283 to provide funding for the payment of interest due on sales taxes not paid by the Acadiana Fairgrounds Commission.

Discuss purchasing two solid state digital video players for the online streaming of council meetings.

• Discuss paying registration expenses of $95 per person for members of the council to attend the 2019 Police Jury Association of Louisiana Annual Legislative Day.

• Discuss placing proposed changes to update the parish’s home rule charter on the ballot for voter approval.

• Consider granting substantial completion to the Water System Improvements from The Ridge subdivision to Boyance Road.

• Consider raising the the service charge for residential users of land line exchange from Commercial Mobile Radio Service (CMRS) subscribers from $.80 to $1.25 per month.

• Consider a change to the code of ordinances to clarify that leash requirements for animals and/or fowl is to prohibit animals and/or fowl from running at large in the rural areas and on the ball fields and/or playing areas of recreational facilities.

The Iberia Parish Council will meet at 6 p.m. in the council meeting room on the fourth floor of the Iberia Parish Courthouse, 300 Iberia St.

.76: Current millage rate being collected for parish courthouse and jail operations.

$136K: Amount of money being raised annually for courthouse and jail.

$2M: Estimated annual cost of running courthouse and jail.

.15: Increase in mills collected after adjustment recommended by Ad Hoc Millage Committee.