At a St. Martin Parish Government Council meeting last week, councilman Chris Tauzan proposed a plan for the renewal of a millage on this year's ballot.
70% of an existing millage would go towards the parish to build a new jail facility and 30% to the libraries.
“We have an opportunity to get money from the state to captial outlay our jail,” Tauzan said.
“But the problem is it’s gonna be $40 million for a jail, and we need to come up with a 25% match that would be $10 million.”
Tauzan said four years ago the library board was collecting two tax millages, and it was cut in half due to a surplus of funds.
“So what we did was we cut the millage in half, to be able to accommodate for us to be able to use the money for the DA’s and for the courthouse and other areas that had concerns without having to raise people’s taxes,” Tauzan said.
Tauzan’s proposition for the millage renewal won a majority of votes from the council.
“So with the money they have in the bank there’s $13 million,” Tauzan said.
“So we can’t use that money anywhere else cause it was collected for the libraries. So we looked at the millage and with a 70/30 split we would fund the cost of a new jail. It would totally fund everything we need.”
St. Martin Parish Government President Pete Delcambre had proposed a 50/50 millage plan.
“Yes I did and I’m moving forward with 70/30,” Delcambre said.
“You know the democratic process the council has decided and I’m good with it.”
Delcambre feels the libraries will stay afloat even if funding has decreased.
“The libraries are here you know they are being funded, we will do whatever is necessary and needed to facilitate these, you know we need the libraries,” Delcambre said.
Delcambre said seven other millages will be on the ballot.
“The parish government needs these monies to be able to facilitate these services. Some of which are fire protection, drainage, the health unit to name a few," Delcambre said.
According to St. Martin Parish Library Director Charlar Brew, nearly 60,000 people visited St. Martin Parish libraries in 2023.
