Pelican Post - Online Newspaper
There are seven Lighting Districts in Ascension Parish, five on the west bank with two east of the Mississippi River. With a total of $5,553,810 in aggregate fund balance ($3,664,637 in District 6 which includes those petrochemical plants along the river’s east bank and half the City of Gonzales), the districts could operate for the next decade without additional revenue. That is according to Ascension’s Chief Administrative Officer John Diez who proposed incorporation of certain public safety measures in combination with the Lighting District at the most recent meeting of the Parish Council Finance Committee.
“License Plate Readers have solved more crime for us in the last two years,” said Sheriff Bobby Webre who happened to attend the Finance meeting to discuss a separate matter.
“(It) provides only a description of the car, not the inside of vehicle,” he attempted to allay Councilman Travis Turner’s concerns that LPR might violate motorists’ privacy.
APSO enjoys the ability to utilize both technologies, though Sheriff Webre expressed little enthusiasm for the crime-solving efficacy of Shot Spotter.
To accomplish any of it, new legislation is required to expand the ballot initiatives whereby voters approved the 5 mills funding the respective districts on December 8, 2012. Tax revenues, generated for ten years, are…
“…for the purpose of providing and maintaining electric lights on the streets, roads, highways, alleys and public places in said Road Lighting District?”
Thus, millage renewals are necessary to prolong the taxes in the near term.
“I’m all for it,” assured Councilman Alvin “Coach” Thomas, whose District 1 encompasses all or parts of five Lighting Districts. “It’s a great idea.”
The frequency of gun violence on the west bank is an ongoing problem.
Meanwhile, at the other end of Ascension Parish, “there is recent support for a lighting district along Hwy 42” according to Councilman Aaron Lawler. His District 7 straddles the busy roadway from its intersection with Airline Highway, eastward to Hwy 44 and beyond.
It was agreed that the matter is worthy of further consideration in time for inclusion on the ballot initiatives to renew the lighting district Ad Valorem tax propositions, certain of which date back to the 1950s.
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