Parcel Tax Off Ballot
April 2, 2004

On March 29th, The Jeff Davis Parish School Board, voted in a special election to recall the April 17th Tax election. District 3, School Board Representative Mike Heinen explained to the board that too many unanswered questions had been raised concerning how the household parcel fee would be handled. "The more we talked about how the proposition was written and how to administer it if passed, the more confused we became. Additional comments include "We don't want to leave it to be the subject of someone else's interpretation". "We need to do a better job of writing it so it is not subject to broader speculation".

Okay! Lets keep our eye on the ball here. The reason the proposal HAD to be pulled was because the original intent was not supported by the law. Despite the comments there were no "interpretations" and although I made several speculative statements, by and large there was no broad speculation. It said what it said...without intrepretation of any kind! In short, Louisiana Revised Statutes 39:816 & 40:1505 said one thing. The actual proposal on the ballot said another and what we were hearing from District 3 Rep., Mike Heinen was yet another. If left on the ballot and it passed, even accidently, they would have had a firestorm of crap.
Why? Because if the measure would have passed landowners would have been forced to pay on each one of their parcels. Here's the problem...How many parcels do you have? Don't know? Do you think you better find out? You would have had to pay $100.00 for each one. You thought you were paying $100.00,  but in fact you may have had to pay $500.00 if it turns out you had 5 parcels. Despite the claims, it was not a household tax. It was a parcel tax on property or real estate regardless of whether a dwelling/structure was on it or not. The bottom line is this....You as a taxpayer was fixing to get ripped off! The saddest part is that it was simply by mistake.

Time Line Bulleted Points:

+The idea originated in March of 1998.  (Count em' 6 years almost to the day before we realized we had a problem)

+Between Mar 98 and June 22nd 98, Parcel idea was submitted to Representative Dan Morrish to submit to the legislature.

+June 22nd, 1998 - School District 3 of JDParish was authorized by the La State Legislature to submit to voters the parcel tax option with the    passage of LRS 39:816.

+Jan 1 04 thru March 29th 2004 - 2 meetings held to discuss and answer questions about the bond issue and parcel tax. 3 articles appeared in the Jennings Daily News.  Actual proposition never printed in the Newspaper. Letter in the JDNews with opposing viewpoint.   Actual proposition, comparitive Lousiana Revised Statutes (laws) and narrative pubished on this site in opposition to the proposal.

+March 3rd 2004 . Final Revision returned back to the School District from the Secretary of States Office. Final approval by Mike Heinen on March 4th.

+March 29th 2004 - Proposal is pulled by the School Board by unanimous vote.

The part that needs to stand out above everything else is the fact that this was a 6 year old effort. Plenty of time to work out all the kinks and have answers to virtually every conceivable question.

We'll have to wait and see what the new version looks like.

Joe Semmes
Jeff Davis Parish.com
www.jeffdavisparish.com