Mayor-President Joel Robideaux says he’s opposing two taxes on the November ballot that would fund the parish jail and courthouse.
Thursday morning, Robideaux announced his stance on KLWB radio.
On 103.7 The Game, The Sport of Politics, Robideaux said, “New taxes will come about when there are specific issues that need to be funded. I feel like that’s when you go to the voters on those particular issues.”
One of the proposed items is a 10 year, 2.94 mil tax increase to fund operations of the parish jail. The tax would raise an extra $6.7 million annually. The other is a new 10 year, 2-mil tax to fund state-mandated courthouse costs. That would raise $4.5 million.
“For me, if you’re going to go to the public for new taxes, then it needs to be issued driven,” Robideaux said.
Robideaux says he would prefer the proposal be more specific, with the money dedicated an an expiration date for the taxes. Similar to what was proposed for the airport.
“This is kind of we just need more money to run and operate the jail,” Robideaux said. “To me, that’s not at all what the public expects of us as elected officials. We can survive without it and we’ve proven we can survive without it for the last three years. That’s why I’m opposing it.”
The proposed taxes are on the November 6 ballot.
