St. Tammany News

St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack Strain is asking voters March 8 to make permanent a 1/4-cent sales tax that funds, among other items, full time pay for roughly 170 deputies.

The tax, first approved by voters in 1991 and renewed in 2001, is expected to account for less than 25 percent, or roughly $9.8 million, of the Sheriff's Office $47 million yearly budget, Strain said. No new taxes are in store for consumers.

With the economy on shaky ground and spending patterns varying, Strain said the collections may differ year to year. But if approved, the Sheriff's Office will collect 25 cents for every $100 spent on taxable goods, or roughly $10 million a year in subsequent years, Strain said.

"Unfortunately, if this is not approved, then we'll have to look at ways to dramatically, dramatically" decrease the budget, he said.

At the very least, about 170 full time deputies would be laid off, almost 50 percent of the 400 street and administration deputies employed by the Sheriff's Office, he said.

"In a parish that is growing like St. Tammany, the last thing we need to cut" are deputies who serve roughly 75 to 80 percent of the parish's population who lives in unincorporated areas of St. Tammany, Strain said.

Strain is asking for the favorable nod in March that would make permanent the tax collection voters approved once 1991 for 10 years and renewed in 2001 for another 10 years.

And while the last collection term doesn't expire until 2011, Strain on Tuesday favored jumpstarting the approval process and attaching the item during the 1st Congressional District seat race when voter turnout is expected to be higher than usual.

In years past, tax items were often slipped under the radar on voting ballots with small turnouts.

"But we wanted to slide these taxes on one of the biggest races in the parish in a long time," Strain said, adding 2001's renewal passed with roughly 70 percent of the vote.

If it fails, Louisiana law allows one more vote before the item dies, Strain said.

"I'm confident there will always be a time when the Sheriff's Office will need this revenue," Strain said.

"If we don't get it, I don't care what anybody says - that is a devastating blow. We'll have to go out and find $10 million and that's not easy."