Beginning in less than a week the Washington Parish Government will ask voters to approve a 1/3 of one cent sales tax proposal. If successful, the funds would go to the Parish Government’s general fund to help pay mandated expenses dedicated to funding the civil, criminal and juvenile justice system in Washington Parish.
Mandated expenses
are those required by the state to be paid. The Parish Government has no choice
in the matter as the state forces every Parish Government to pay these expenses.
The Parish Government is mandated (required) to fund entities such as the
Sheriff's Office, Assessor's Office, the District Attorney's Office, the Clerk
of Courts Office and services for judges.
Before this gets too boring, here's what the tax would
cost you if approved. On a $10 purchase you would pay 3 cents. Yes, three
pennies. If you buy $100 worth of groceries you would pay 33 cents. If you
spend $1,000 on that new computer for the family, you'd pay $3.30. It's an
extremely minimal amount as you can see and it would greatly benefit our Parish
Government.
If you live within the city limits of Franklinton, you
wouldn't pay any additional taxes on purchases in Franklinton. If you have a
business located in Franklinton, your sales tax rates won't go up at all
because Franklinton has reached the legal limit for sales tax charges.
Franklinton residents within the city limits also don't vote on this proposal. The
remaining registered voters in Washington Parish are eligible to vote.
In a previous election similar to this one,
misinformation and untruths were widely spread to voters throughout the parish.
Talk of issues that held no bearing on the outcome of the election were put out
because a) people distributing this information honestly didn't understand it
or b) they intentionally wanted to confuse voters and make them believe
something other than the truth. In either case, if you're going to ask people
to vote for or against something the least you can do is understand the facts
before setting out on your mission.
Through no fault of their own, the Parish Government’s
general fund is in dire straits. Washington Parish citizens now have the
ability to step up and help for just pennies. It's the right thing to do and
the right time to do it. Please vote "yes" during the following
dates:
Early Voting Dates: Saturday, October 5 – Saturday,
October 12
Election Day: October 19 (the Saturday of the fair)
What about the stray dogs and cats that people all over Washington Parish (and from outside the parish) turned loose on rural roads and city streets to fend for themselves-which is a MANDATED EXPENSE for Parish Government, which is responsible UNDER STATE LAW to provide shelters, food and maintenance of these domestic animals? Sen. Nevers appropriated approximately $250,000 of state funds to build a shelter but the Parish Government inexplicably REFUSED to spend the money on a shelter, and eventually lost it over a period of years as a percentage of this money was annually put back into the State's general fund. Hoorah for Sen. Ben Nevers and Rep. Harold Ritchie, who helped pass the law, but bah, humbug on the Parish President and Parish Council for giving the money back to the state after an 11th hour, half-hearted attempt to spend the meager $50-75,000 that were left in the bank. They decided to build the animal shelter on the Rayburn State Correctional site, which the Parish does not even own (owned by the state). Of course, if the prison closes, the property would be closed to the shelter, except that it was NEVER BUILT, but that little pittance of money was squandered on a little ground work which was never built-on.
ReplyDeleteSo, animals roam around until they are shot, run over or caught and put into dog fighting pits as "meat on the table" for killer dogs.
Unless there is an inclusion in the parish budget for an animal shelter for dogs and cats, as well as abused horses and other domesticated animals protected by State Law, I will not support any increase in taxes for mandated expenses. This is animal abuse by the very government (Washington Parish Council) who is required by State law to PROTECT those animals. The Sheriff of the parish is required to pick up the animals and take them to the shelter, but alas, there IS NO SHELTER for this parish. Franklinton and Bogalusa have town/city shelter, but the larger government serving most of the people in Washington Parish refuses to build a shelter EVEN WHEN THE MONEY WAS GIVEN TO THEM FOR THAT SPECIFIC PURPOSE BY THE STATE BUDGET! That is a crime against state law and against the neglected and abused animals in this parish. Where is the public outrage for this?