The upcoming tax renewal posted Thursday, April 5th, 2012 @ 12:55 pm  E-mail Story |  Print Story  Early voting begins this Satruday for the April 21 general election when Franklin Parish voters decide the fate of a half-cent sales tax for the Franklin Parish Sheriff's Office. The half-cent sales tax measure is a renewal, not a tax increase. If approved by Franklin Parish voters, the tax would be levied for additional five years. Early voting on the sales tax renewal proposition begins Saturday, April 7 at 8:30 a.m. at the Franklin Parish courthouse, and will continue until the following Saturday. It is important Franklin Parish voters realize that the Sheriff's Office must operate in a manner similar to a private business. In other words, the Sheriff's Office must cope with increased operational expenses like any private company must do to survive. Although the half-cent sales tax accounts for only a small portion of the Sheriff's Office's annual budget — more than $10 million — it still accounts for nearly $500,000 of the Sheriff's Office's income. Unlike other parish governing bodies, much of the Sheriff's Office's revenue are generated by Franklin Parish Detention Center where the housing of the Louisiana Department of Corrections inmates provides state revenues to help operate the detention center. The amount of funding the Sheriff's Office receives from property taxes is substantially lower than other parish governing bodies. The Sheriff's Office collects revenues from a 7.92-mill property tax and it should be noted that FPSO allowed a property tax to expire in 2007. Simply put, the half-cent sales tax that will appear on the April 21 ballot generates significant revenues for the parish's primary law enforcement agency. And Franklin Parish voters should support it.