The Acadia Parish Police Jury (APPJ) could potentially eliminate portions of a Sale & Use tax that sparked controversy at a recent committee meeting.
First implemented in early 2023, the tax was levied on businesses located inside a newly formed economic development district (EDD) that includes areas located along the I-10 corridor to west of Crowley, as well as areas on the outer edges of city limits.
While the parish's standard sales & use tax is 9.25%, businesses located in the EDD pay 11.25%.
"If someone wants to build a house in this district, there's going to be an additional 2% tax on that also", said Jay Domingue who owns Reach4Communication located within the EDD.
According to APPJ president Beau Petitjean the police jury is waiting to receive a legal opinion on whether the "use" portion of the sales & use tax was actually called for in the city's ordinance, before further assessing possible changes.
"Right now, we have reason to believe that the tax may not actually include a "use" element, and we're waiting for information on that. Moving forward, we are investigating to see how we can eliminate the use element of the tax, or if we need to. That way anytime they purchase materials they won't have to pay that 2%".
Discussions on the tax were renewed at an APPJ committee meeting earlier this month when Domingue admonished the police jury for what he viewed as the deceptive implementation of the tax.
"We were completely blindsided by this. I only found out because I have a national distributor who let me know."
In accordance with state law, the parish was only required to publish two notices of the change in the Crowley Post-Signal and hold a public hearing. Additionally, because the EDD had no residents at the time of adoption, it was not required to be put to a public vote. The hearing held in early January 2023 did not receive any comments from local businesses either in favor or against the additional 2% tax levy.
Domingue claims he and other business owners affected by the change were unaware of the hearing and says the current method of informing the public is insufficient.
"Nobody's reading the paper to find out if new taxes are going to be imposed. They have a list of all the parcels in the district. All the property owners should have been directly informed".
The ordinance responsible for creating the 2% increase was first proposed by former APPJ president Chance Henry, who now serves as a representative in the Louisiana State Legislature. Henry attended last week's committee meeting where he cautioned the current members against removing the tax entirely, calling it a necessary funding mechanism for future infrastructure projects in the parish.
Petitjean, who was not a member of the police jury at that time, agrees with Henry's assessment and defends the parish's need to raise additional revenues in the district.
"Municipalities and parishes design economic districts to capitalize on businesses looking to come to the parish. Right now, that's where people are looking to develop", said Petitjean. "This will fund future infrastructure and drainage projects. Our tax structure alone does not afford all that the parish needs, so this is a way to pull in more revenue."
The parish has collected around $250,000 from the tax since its enactment in 2023 according to Petitjean. So far, none of the money collected has been spent on infrastructure improvements, however, specific plans are being developed according to Petitjean.
"We're looking to develop sewer systems for some of these businesses coming to Acadia Parish so they don't have to use a septic tank. It's simple things like that. My hope is that local business leaders will see that this is something we can all benefit from".