Parish residents are paying less and getting more
posted Tuesday, July 24th, 2007 @ 12:39 pm

Franklin Parish voters did the right thing on Saturday.

Parish voters went to the polls on Saturday and approved a one-half cents sales tax to fund operations at the Franklin Parish Detention Center.

The measure passed with the support of some 88 percent of the voters.

Earning voter approval for any tax measure is a tricky business in today's world, but the tax measure approved on Saturday was a little different than the tax proposals which are usually placed before the voters.

The vote on Saturday was actually a vote to reduce the tax burden on parish residents.

The five-year, one-half cent sales tax that was approved on Saturday will replace a one-cent sales tax which was scheduled to continue until June, 2010.

The one-cent sales tax was originally passed by parish voters under the administration of former Sheriff Eugene Parker, who later placed a 20-year limit of the tax before the voters, which was approved. That is the tax which was scheduled to expire in 2010.

Now, though, the tax will expire sooner than originally planned.

In just a matter of months, in Jan. 2008, the sales tax dedicated to the parish detention center will drop from one cent to one-half cent.

Sheriff Steve Pylant and his staff are to be commended for their fiscal responsibility.

Reducing the tax burden on parish residents was made possible by sound and innovative management.

The parish detention center is now housing more state inmates than ever before, and more inmates are arriving at this very moment because of the recent construction of a new dormitory capable of holding 328 prisoners.

The sheriff's department is paid a daily rate of $23.69 for holding state inmates, and they are using that revenue to fund detention center operations. The sheriff's department is also continuing to build a cash balance to hold in reserve.

It's that type of management which allowed Sheriff Pylant to allow a 9.18 mill property tax to lapse from the tax rolls last year.

Parish residents are now paying less and getting more.

In the high-priced world that all of us live in, that is a rare and good thing.