Posted on July 28, 2016
The Port Board on Monday approved the levy of a 2.53 mills property tax for 2016, which means more tax money coming to the port than in 2015. The port will receive an estimated $170,000 more into their general fund as a result, according to Executive Director Bill Rase.
Although the millage has not increased since last year, the value of taxable property has increased. When property value increases, the port must choose whether to reduce the millage rate so that funding stays the same or to keep the millage rate at the prior year’s maximum so that they receive more funding.
The board approved to keep the millage at 2.53, a decision Rase said has been made by all government entities.
“In past years we’ve adjusted the number downward so that we always took the same amount of money,” Rase said. “We decided this year — just like the parish did, just like the city did, just like all the government entities — that we would just take the millage based on whatever the assessment was.”
Rase said reasons for this include the increase in real estate costs and the port’s progress in capital projects. He said the port is modernizing its facilities to handle more diverse cargo, and that the tax money could go to funding a variety of related projects, such as dredging or tearing down old sheds.
He also listed funding issues faced by the Calcasieu Ship Channel as a reason for keeping the millage at the maximum.
The state by statute is responsible for the ship channel, Rase said, but the port has so far been unsuccessful in getting the state to fund the channel’s dredging activities.
“It’s their baby, if you will,” Rase said. “But they have not supplied the money yet.”
The port has paid around $5 million to the US Army Corp. of Engineers for channel dredging, money which by statute the state is supposed to pay.
He emphasized that 46 cents out of every dollar in this five-parish area is related to the channel, and that without it the area would be in a poor financial state.
“It’s the issue that could stop this community in its tracks,” Rase said.
Ginger Corley, the port spokeswoman who has been fighting for state funding in Baton Rouge, updated the board on Monday. She said that they had not secured state funding yet but that she and her team are meeting regularly with officials to plead the port’s case.
“Until they get their house in order, I think we’re going to continue to get pushed aside,” Corley said. “We’re going to continue to play into the policy decisions and changes, so that if we see an opportunity that they can free up revenue, maybe we can jump on it for the channel and get the state to assume that responsibility.”
In other news, many of the port’s current projects are expected to finish within the year. The Wharf and Transit Shed 1 have already finished under budget, and the port’s new administration building on Sallier is expected to finish in October.
Source: AmericanPress.com
