Renewal of the current property tax the Parishwide Fire Protection District collects is on the August 15^th ballot.  Early voting is underway through August 8^th.  The current tax will expire in 2023, however the fire department wants the public to renew it early to allow them to refinance the note on new fire station.

“This is not a new tax,” Fire Chief Shane Felts told The Journal.  He said it will not raise property taxes.  Felts said, “This is the same tax first passed in 1987 and 1992.  It has been renewed several times since then.  Property owners’ tax bills should not go up.  The renewal would not take place until 2023.”

So why renew early?  Felts said, “As soon as the renewal is passed, we will refinance the current note on the new fire station and stretch the payment over 12 years.  Currently it is financed over 4 years.  That means we have to pay a lot more each year to pay back the loan.”

Felts told the Police Jury back in March that the current budget impact on their operating budget is 25% goes to debt service. If approved by voters, the fire department can lower this to about 8%.  This week Felts said, “We would go from a note of about $453,000 a year to just over $120,000 a year. “That will free up about $333,000 per year for other operational expenses.”

Chief Felts stressed that renewing the property tax at this time will have no impact on the amount of property taxes anyone would pay.  It would mean no new money coming into the fire department.  It would extend the life of the property tax to 2033.

The Journal asked Felts, “What would be the impact of the tax not being renewed now.”  He said, “The Fire Department would not remain as it is today.  It would probably go back to an all-volunteer department.  That would greatly increase our response time to fires and other emergencies.”  Felts explained if the debt service remains at the present rate, there would not be money available to maintain the same level of services now provided to the parish.

“We do a lot more than fighting fires.  We participate in water rescues; we respond to 60 to 80 motor vehicle accidents a year and we have the only Jaws of Life in the parish.  We teach fire safety to children and we go to the schools to educate kids on fire safety.  We also provide free smoke detectors to anyone plus we send a firefighter out to install them for free.  We do much more than just fighting fires.”

The tax renewal is the only item on the ballot in the parish August 15^th.  The fire department is paying the full cost of the election.  The cost was estimated at $25,000 to $30,000 when the election was proposed to the Police Jury back in March.