Parish voters must choose whether to renew two separate taxes on Oct. 4 that for 10 years will continue to pump monies into the parish animal shelter and two organizations serving elderly and retarded residents.

In a late addition to the agenda Thursday night, St. Tammany Parish council members approved the millage propositions for the special election scheduled this fall. The election is subject to Louisiana Bond Commission approval, but that move is considered a formality.

Each proposition is asking voters to renew taxes currently collected for three different agencies including the St. Tammany Parish Animal Shelter, Council on Aging St. Tammany, or COAST, and St. Tammany Association of Retarded Citizens, or STARC. No new taxes will be implemented. To ease confusion, Parish Council members combined millages for COAST and STARC into one proposition, calling for a 10-year, two-mill tax renewal. If approved, proposition No. 2 would split one mill with each agency, enough to generate an estimated $1 million a year between 2009 and 2018.

If proposition No. 1 is approved, the parish animal shelter off Louisiana Highway 36 near Abita Springs would also receive a $1 million financial shot annually for improvements, maintenance and operation needs, according to the proposal.

Each agency calls the tax renewals crucial as post Hurricane Katrina trials continue to plaque services. For example, the animal shelter is experiencing a boom in stray animals. COAST said 17,000 more elderly residents have settled in St. Tammany. And STARC is still reeling from a lack of mental health services.

“It’s tough right now,” said Mary Toti, executive director for COAST, who added calls for aid have double since Hurricane Katrina. “Basically it’s been an explosion for our needs.

“People don’t understand what we do,” she said. “A lot of caregivers as so stress out they need immediate help … we need this renewal tremendously.”

STARC Executive Director Diane Baham agreed.

“This is an exciting time for us,” she said. “This millage opens doors for us that would otherwise be light years away.”