Terrebonne Parish Republican Party says no to Sheriff's sales tax hike

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The Republican Party Executive Committee of Terrebonne Parish voted at a special meeting Monday, October 22, to not support the ½% Sales and Use Tax proposed by the Sheriff, because the in-perpetuity tax will bring the overall sales tax to 10.45% -- the highest in the nation. “We believe that a higher sales tax in Terrebonne is neither consumer nor business friendly, and will ultimately hurt an already ailing economy,” said Wallace Ellender III, Chairman of the Committee. “Although we fully support the safety of our school children,” he added “we believe another way must be found to provide security in our schools other than a tax increase.” There are a total of 36 Public Schools in Terrebonne Parish, eight of which currently have School Resource Officers, and the Sheriff is promoting the tax to put Resource Officers in each public and private school in the Parish. “First, we don’t believe it’s the taxpayer’s responsibility to fund private schools or the staff they hire,” said Ellender, “so we based our calculations of the impact the tax will have by placing SROs only in public schools, the amount the Sheriff’s Website says a starting Deputy earns, and the Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government’s financial audit Report.” Based on the need of 28 more SROs earning approximately $50,000 each per year, plus approximately $9,000 for Sheriff provided insurance, equipment, and vehicle, the cost to the Sheriff for these new Deputies will be approximately $1.625 million per year. According to the TPCG audit report the ½% tax would bring in $10.5 million to the Sheriff’s Office – or a surplus of $8.87 million of undesignated funds per year. “This tax was sprung on the people of Terrebonne Parish in just the past two weeks,” explained Ellender, “and the Committee believes more public input and discussion is needed before we strap ourselves with the highest combined state and local Sales & Use tax in the country.”

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