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Started By
Message
AP School leaders again ask voters for construction tax: 'The growth is so much, man"
Posted on 1/15/24 at 9:55 am
Posted on 1/15/24 at 9:55 am
Ascension is grappling with growth. They are having to build new schools, expand existing ones, due to a level of growth that is pretty rare in Louisiana. They are also trying to manage a lot of issues with drainage, flood protection, traffic, zoning, and fire protection because of all of this growth.
To those of you outside of the state - Ascension is fairly convenient to Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and the sites of major industrial expansions along the Mississippi River between the two cities. By Louisiana standards, it's growing quickly by more than doubling in population since 1990.
To those of you outside of the state - Ascension is fairly convenient to Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and the sites of major industrial expansions along the Mississippi River between the two cities. By Louisiana standards, it's growing quickly by more than doubling in population since 1990.
quote:
Ascension school leaders again ask voters for construction tax: 'The growth is so much, man'
LINK
The new $120 million Prairieville High School and a $27 million reconstruction of East Ascension High School aren't quite finished, but school leaders say Ascension Parish is growing so fast that they're again asking voters to help fund new construction.
"The growth is so much, man. It's just so much," School Board President Taft Kleinpeter said Thursday.
Voters renewed and extended the system's longstanding capital construction tax in 2020 to fund the two big projects underway and others. Now the board plans to ask voters to do the same again to help finance another $110 million in construction debt.
Louisiana's ninth-largest traditional public school district, Ascension had 24,138 students this fall and adds, on average, 350 additional students per year, according to state school data and district officials.
quote:
Since late last year, the School Board has been taking early steps to put the 15.08 mill property tax renewal on the April 27 special election ballot. On Tuesday, the board agreed unanimously to seek state Bond Commission approval for the election, school officials said.
Commission backing is a required procedural review when local governments in Louisiana seek to add public debt.
Kleinpeter said board members are still finalizing the list of projects the new bond issue would pay for and expect to meet in committee in the coming weeks to finalize it before the election.
At the top of a tentative list is a major expansion of Lake Elementary School, a kindergarten through eighth-grade school in northeastern Ascension. School officials want to buy land and build a new school building so they can separate Lake into primary and middle schools, in line with other schools in the district.
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Posted on 1/15/24 at 9:59 am to frequent flyer
As someone who delivered pizzas around Northern AP(new Pville HS area) from 2011-2015 and has lived near Dutchtown high since 2019....
He is 100% right. The growth has been absurdly rapid and the roads and infrastructure can't be improved fast enough.
But it's easy to see why AP is so attractive.
1 Lower prop taxes than Baton Rouge
2 Great public schools
3 Easy access to Baton Rouge/New Orleans/PetroChem Corridor for commuters.
He is 100% right. The growth has been absurdly rapid and the roads and infrastructure can't be improved fast enough.
But it's easy to see why AP is so attractive.
1 Lower prop taxes than Baton Rouge
2 Great public schools
3 Easy access to Baton Rouge/New Orleans/PetroChem Corridor for commuters.
This post was edited on 1/15/24 at 10:05 am
Posted on 1/15/24 at 10:00 am to frequent flyer
Downvote away but if it’s a tax I’m already paying and they just need it to be renewed, I’m ok with it. Anyone who drives here knows well that the parish is indeed growing fast. It makes sense that new kids are coming in every year.
Posted on 1/15/24 at 10:00 am to mikelbr
quote:
Lower prop taxes than Baton Rouge
For now....
Posted on 1/15/24 at 10:01 am to mikelbr
quote:
mikelbr
Posted on 1/15/24 at 10:01 am to frequent flyer
quote:
For now....
Even with the proposed increases we'll be way below what I'll be paying for similar sqft in Mid-City Baton Rouge when we move back.
BREC/Cats/etc get them folks right in the butthole.
Posted on 1/15/24 at 10:03 am to mikelbr
quote:
He is 100% right. The growth has been absurdly rapid and the roads and infrastructure can't be improved fast enough.
I know they like their taxes low, but they are going to have to pass some kind of Kip Holden style "green light plan" to widen their roads and chase after federal matching funds. They've grown too much and there is still a huge amount of development in the works there.
The good thing is that it's one of the few places in the Baton Rouge metro that had a rural grid pattern. So if they can just widen and control some of the development of their arterial roads and get the state to widen Airline Highway and I-10....they should see a major improvement in traffic flow.
Posted on 1/15/24 at 10:09 am to mikelbr
quote:
lived near Dutchtown high since 2019....
wait, where you at baw?? that's my neck of the woods too
Posted on 1/15/24 at 10:12 am to chRxis
quote:
wait, where you at baw?? that's my neck of the woods too
MFer we talked about this before. I know where you live, boy! Your hood is fancy. We're in a cookie cutter hood right down the road from you. We're technically in EA's district just across the Goudine Bayou. But my older two's mama lives in DTHS district so they went there.
Come out of your neighborhood, turn left, and run a 5k and you'll be right by my hood. But you'll likely be hit by a car before you get to 73.
This post was edited on 1/15/24 at 10:14 am
Posted on 1/15/24 at 10:13 am to frequent flyer
Need better roads, wider with shoulders, just as much as more schools.
Posted on 1/15/24 at 10:15 am to lowhound
quote:
Need better roads, wider with shoulders, just as much as more schools.
Say it again! A MAJOR problem in AP is zero shoulders on so many roads with 55mph+ traffic. There is no room for pedestrians and cyclists(people who actually use bicycles to go to work and grocery store)
Posted on 1/15/24 at 10:18 am to frequent flyer
As the father of 2 kids in AP, sure. The school system has really been great so far. Quality teachers who give a shite, and good facilities.
It's an important investment in any area. It attracts people who give a shite about their kids' education. It allows the parish to be picky and hire good teachers.
Look at the shite-show LP School Board has become. It's an upward or downward spiral. They have sent their teachers a clear message that the populace won't pay them more. My friends last year said the teachers immediately started shite-talking the job. The good teachers started shopping for adjacent parish jobs.
It's an important investment in any area. It attracts people who give a shite about their kids' education. It allows the parish to be picky and hire good teachers.
Look at the shite-show LP School Board has become. It's an upward or downward spiral. They have sent their teachers a clear message that the populace won't pay them more. My friends last year said the teachers immediately started shite-talking the job. The good teachers started shopping for adjacent parish jobs.
Posted on 1/15/24 at 10:22 am to frequent flyer
But I thought everyone wanted to move to AP to get away from the "city life"?
Posted on 1/15/24 at 10:27 am to mikelbr
quote:
Even with the proposed increases we'll be way below what I'll be paying for similar sqft in Mid-City Baton Rouge when we move back.
BREC/Cats/etc get them folks
In fairness, BREC and the Library system in EBR are both pretty good.
CATS is horribly run across the board - which is pathetic because there is a need for decent bus service. EBR is paying for something and getting almost no return on that. If CATS were decent, outlying parts of EBR and even Ascension and Livingston would be trying to get service from them. LSU would still be working with them. That's not happening because CATS is a joke.
Posted on 1/15/24 at 10:30 am to mikelbr
quote:
Say it again! A MAJOR problem in AP is zero shoulders on so many roads with 55mph+ traffic. There is no room for pedestrians and cyclists(people who actually use bicycles to go to work and grocery store)
Reminds me of Baton Rouge circa 1995. Perkins, Old Hammond, Burbank, etc. were all still mostly narrow two lane rural roads back then.
In AP it won't get cheaper and easier to widen those roads, move/bury the electric lines, rework the drainage and sewer lines, etc. Hopefully they don't wait until they are absolutely gridlocked before they start making some real progress there. Seems like infrastructure development only gets more difficult as time goes on.
This post was edited on 1/15/24 at 10:37 am
Posted on 1/15/24 at 10:38 am to dewster
quote:
In fairness, BREC and the Library system in EBR are both pretty good.
Both are bloated and wasteful. BREC has property and parks they or their citizens may not even know exists.
Posted on 1/15/24 at 10:40 am to lsu13lsu
quote:library is bloated but not wasteful
Both are bloated and wasteful.
Posted on 1/15/24 at 10:46 am to frequent flyer
Simple. Quit building more homes and stuff. AP is full and we can’t take anymore people. We’ve already exceeded our limit.
Posted on 1/15/24 at 10:48 am to mikelbr
quote:
people who actually use bicycles to go to work and grocery store
What percentage of people are doing this? 1% .01%
Posted on 1/15/24 at 10:50 am to GreenRockTiger
quote:
library is bloated but not wasteful
Yeah the libraries in EBR may be over funded but they delivery good value for now. The fancy downtown library was more elaborate than it needed to be, and that would have hurt them if their local branches weren't as good as they are.
BREC I think is similar. Excellent parks and they try to keep them relevant and clean. Some are over utilized, some are under utilized...but as a whole they are doing good work and keeping them relevant.
Can't say the same for CATS or COE. Those are run by idiots and serve themselves more than the public.
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