Eula Josephine Lagrange Larose
April 28, 2008
Adam "T-Dent" LaCoste
April 30, 2008
With council consent in a couple of weeks, the Lafourche Parish Government will form a committee to identify funding sources to improve the parish’s detention center.
A similar “Blue Ribbon Committee” was formed for the same purpose in 2001, but disbanded shortly after hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit in 2005. The new committee, spearheaded by District 7 Councilman L. Philip Gouaux, will be known as the “Five Star Commission.”
The name has no significance; however, the commission’s task will be of great benefit to parish.
“Developing a committee like this will allow us to gain data on where we can consolidate some of our boards in the parish, rededicate some of the millages and reduce the parish’s millage obligations,” Gouaux said.
“The findings will help us support the building of a jail and make Lafourche Parish a more efficient and business-oriented parish,” he added.
In 2004, the council requested that the Blue Ribbon Committee research the makeup of all the taxing boards in the parish and recommend whether the boards could be consolidated or eliminated.
The Blue Ribbon report said the parish structure was segmented in a way that would be difficult to properly manage. The committee recommended that the parish government be reorganized and a master strategic plan be created.
A year later, Nicholls State University’s economic and finance department head, Dr. Bruce McManis, and fellow economic professor, Dr. Morris Coats, tackled the parish’s taxing structure as a class project at the university.
The professors examined the property and sales taxes for Lafourche Parish based on its sufficiency, growth, fairness, stability, competitive rate, visibility, efficiency and inflation.
The professors reported to the council that both the sales and property taxes were sufficient, yet the new and unfunded mandates from the state and federal government may raise a problem for the parish in the future.
McManis and Coates advised the parish do a better job guaranteeing its citizens that they will not be exploited by the local government and that the parish government would provide services of greater value than the taxes levied. They believed that in the long run the parish could encourage businesses and potential citizens to relocate to Lafourche Parish, increasing the tax base instead of the tax rate.
The new commission will research the parish’s funding sources, including the federal and state grants, and figure where existing millages can be consolidated, rededicated or eliminated.
However before the new committee presents its findings, Gouaux has requested that the commissioners spend at least one-year reviewing the parish’s current financial status, which includes reports from the Blue Ribbon Committee and McManis and Coats.
“I definitely want the group to review what the Nicholls professors and the Blue Ribbon Committee unveiled about the parish several years ago. I think it will be of some assistance to them,” he said.
When asked about having McManis join the committee, the councilman said, “Most definitely if President [Charlotte] Randolph doesn’t ask for Dr. McManis’ help, then I will. We need his expertise now more than ever.”
The Five-Star Commission will be made up of 15 commissioners from key entities in the parish that have a vested interest in the parish jail. Gouaux ideally believes the commission should be more about logistics and accounting principals rather than politics.
The councilman places a lot of emphasis on the business community because “they are the one’s who pay the millages.”
“We need people with an accounting and finance background like certified public accountants. We also need people who deal with millages all the time, and prominent figures in the community that have an insight as to what the parish needs or doesn’t need,” he said.
The commission will include one representative each from the Lafourche Parish District Attorney’s Office, the District Judge of the 17th Judicial District, the Chamber of Commerce and Sheriff’s Office. In addition, Randolph will appoint two representatives, and each of the nine councilmen will have one.
“I would rather see each councilman choose a representative rather than serve because during the process, we [councilmen] will have every opportunity to interject information as needed,” he said.
If the council passes the ordinance May 6 designating the formation of the commission, Gouaux wants a two-week turnaround for commissioners to be nominated.
“We need to get the ball rolling quickly. The parish jail is not going to last another three years,” he said.
A Five-Star Commission in Lafourche Parish will pick up where a Blue Ribbon Committee left off in solving the parish’s overcrowded jail problem. * File photo
