LAFAYETTE, La — Lafayette Parish residents will pay an additional $35 to $37 in property taxes to ensure the parish collects the same amount of revenue as it did last year.
The parish council voted last night to adjust the millages that fund roads, bridges, drainage, the parish courthouse and jail, the Lafayette Regional Airport.
Parish Council mileages to be voted on, impact of millage increases to maximum, home value before homestead exemption.
For residents inside the city of Lafayette, those with homes valued at $175,000 will pay an additional $18.75; those with homes valued at $275,000 will pay an additional $37.50; and those with homes valued at $375,000 will pay an additional $56.25 in property taxes each year.
For residents in the unicorporated areas of the parish, those with homes valued at $175,000 will pay an additional $19.70; those with homes valued at $275,000 will pay $39.40; and those with homes valued at $375,000 will pay $59.10.
Another millage that funds the Lafayette Economic Development Authority was rolled back to 1.68 mills because LEDA has a surplus.
Parish council chairman Kevin Naquin says this gives the council and its staff a year to fill requests for service that have already been placed.
Naquin added that if the resolutions had failed, LCG would be forced to cut positions created by the Guillory Administration to fix infrastructure in the unincorporated areas.
In all, Naquin says the parish stood to lose nearly $4 million if those resolutions failed. That, he said, could have led to the closures of the parish courthouse and juvenile detention centers.
The Parish Council also voted to delay for two weeks an ordiance that would amend the budget to move $3.5 million from the Courthouse Complex Fund for repairs to the Buchanan Street Parking Garage.
In a joint meeting, the city and parish councils deferred a proposed ordinance banning people from sitting or standing on sidewalks, in medians, or within three feet of a public road. That ordinance will now be considered on September 15.
The councils also indefinitely deferred proposed ordinances creating an open container ban downtown and revising the city's curfew law to add specific hours for the downtown area.
The city council approved an ordinance hiring Baton Rouge attorney Lea Anne Batson to help resolve a dispute with the city-parish attorney over the their ability to control city taxes.
