The Bossier Parish Police Jury lowers its share of taxes. You read that right. A tax cut.
BPPJ reverses course: Instead of a $1.2 million tax increase, it approves a tax cut.
The Bossier Parish Police Jury reversed course Wednesday, and instead of raising taxes by $1.2 million — instituted a tax cut.
The jury actually rolled back its millage rather than increasing it.
The vote among jurors was unanimous.
"We were able, when we took over the library, and we put our staff in charge, we saved a million and a half dollars," Jury President Philip Rodgers said. "We're giving that back to the people right now. We're not collecting that. So we're going to use that money in other departments that we need it in, and we're going to give that million and a half back, and a little more."
The example below was shown during the meeting.
"So if you look at this, what it's showing, the house value of 2024 was $270,000. They reassessed the property. Now that same house is worth $300,000, okay? But what we did is, we deducted the library fund down because we had saved the money in the library fund, and we need money in roads and bridges. We need money in the general fund. We need money in the correction funds. We cannot use money in the library fund to fix a road. We can't use money in road funds to fix the library.
"So what we did is we adjusted all those taxes out to where we need money to be able to continue fixing roads. Where we saved money in the library, we deducted it," Rodgers added.
Last year, the Bossier Parish Police Jury assessed 15.95 mils; in 2025, the millage will total 13.82. Parish Attorney Patrick Jackson told BossierNow that a full rollback would have been 14.37 mils for the parish.
The BPPJ cut the millage more than that.
Jackson provided the three scenarios the Police Jury considered:
Roll Back: 14.37 Parish and 13.13 City with expected revenue $19,541,000
Roll Forward: 16.17 Parish and 14.77 city with expected revenue $21,986,000
Passed: 13.82 Parish and 12.25 City with expected revenue $18,519,000
"So what we did is actually lower your taxes for the next year. And the net effect is even lower with an increased assessment from $270,000 to $300,000," Rodgers added.
The City of Bossier City recently announced a roll back of its millage to avoid a tax increase.
However, tax roll forwards have been approved by Benton Fire District 4 Chief J.T. Wallace, Jr. and Bossier Parish Sheriff Julian Whittington.
Now, the Bossier Parish School Board may be feeling some pressure to institute a millage roll back at a hearing and school board vote to be held on October 31, 2024, at 4 p.m. in the Bossier Instructional Center on Airline Drive.
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Thank you so much BPPJ and the City of Bossier. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Since the corrupt inflation of food, times have been tough. Thanks to both entities for your empathy, and help.