St. Landry democrat., 1889-07-20
The Police Jury and Parish
Assessments.


The Police Jury of the several par
ishes of the State, before they shall fix
and decide on the amount Of taxes to
be assessed for the current year, shall
cause to be made out an estimate exhibit
ing the uap'i0us items of expenditure, and
shall cause the same to be published, &c,
AN ORDINANCE-JANUAR 81, 1889.
On motion of Mr.. Haas, Rcsolued,
That whereas, on the 10th of December,
1888, it was ordained that the sum OF
amount of taxes to be collected for the
services and expenses for the year 1889,
which amount was appropriated as per
budget made that day; now, therefore,
be it
Rcsolred, That to secure that amount
q tax of ten 10) mills on the dollar be
and is hereby levied on all property
borne on the Assessment Roll of the
parish, &c.
We do not know what the assessment
for this year will be, but we know that
last year it was S3,479,190. We know
that the parish licenses amounted to
$4,000, or more. We know that there
were 6,O14 resident and 253 nonresident
tax payers last year. We know the as
sessment will be much larger this year.
Because the Police Jury have taken
steps to have all properties assessed,
and have employed an able. person to
do so and who is at work and has listed
thousands of acres of land heretofore
not assessed, and which is an addition
the ten mill tax levied as per above or
dinance of January 21st, 1889, on the
total assessment made by the assessor
by order of the Police Jury, together
with the licenses collected and to be
collected, will be more than sufficient to
realize the $4,000 required by said Or
dinance of January 21st, 1889. We are
notified by the Police Jury, sitting as a
Board of Reviewers of the parish, to
show cause, if any we have or can, why
the valuation placed upon our property
by the assessor should not be increased.
We can only answer as follows:
1st. Tha5 the assessment this year is
much larger than last year, and together
with the licenses, will be more than
sufficient to realize the amount required
by the bud get of expenses Of this year
as fixed by the Police Jury.
2nd. That we are not disposed to pay
more State tares which an increase of
the present assessment will necessitate.
3rd. That the PoliceJ Jury is estopped
and that the assessment is ample to
meet the same without any increase.
We say the parish debt ought to be
paid, and our parish warrants worth
dollar for dollar and receivable for tax
es, &c, but we fail to see how such can
be reached by the plan adopted by the
Police Jury. Necessarily, to put in de-
fault 6267 taxpayers will incur an ex-
pense of at least $500 per notice, (at
an average,) and will bring about liti-
CATION and harrass the already bur-
dened taxpayers, and will force the
payment of several thousand dollars of
State taxes to the detriment of the tax
payers Of this parish, and VIII n the
State does not exact it. 1t may be that |
the parish creditors, if the plan adopted |
by the Police Jury is with a view of |
paying the parish debt, may have some |
other means of collecting from the par
ish without increasing our State tax |
which the method adopted by the Police |
Jury is bound to bring about. The Con-
of this State limits parochial |
taxation for all purposes to ten mills on
the total assessment. However, the |
permits an exception to |
public buildings, &C., &c, bnt the ad-
iitional tax for these purposes must be
by special vote.
As we have stated above, the assess
neht as made out and completed by the
assessor without any increase will be at
east four million dollars. With the
ZEN mills and with about 5000 of par
sh licenses there will be in the treasury
If the parish $4,000 to meet the pay
nent of $4,000 as fixed by the ordi-
rance above quoted. We must say the
plan adopted by our Police Jury is
lovel one, and has some resemblance
% the Greek horse.
TAXPAYERS.