Council hears library tax presentation, moves on

Ward 2 City Council member Germaine Simpson invited members of the Library Coalition to discuss the impact of a parish-wide library system and a parish-wide library tax before the matter is put to a vote on the upcoming November ballot. Simpson said that she supported the creation of St. Landry Parish library system.
“I thought that it was important that (the library coalition) come and explain to the citizens of Eunice the parish-wide library tax proposal,” said Simpson. “And I’m hoping that everyone could eventually join in and work at this together. I’ve heard a lot of stories of why we should. And I’ve heard people who are against but they never really gave any valid reason why we shouldn’t have a library tax and system. We all need to get on board with this. I know that this council took a pledge to the schools here in the city of Eunice and to better education and to assist them in some way.”
Before Miss Simpson spoke on the matter of a parish library assisting students, Bruce Gaudin, coaltion spokesman, briefed the Eunice city council members on the St. Landry Parish Library effort.
“Basically, we’re the only parish in the state of Louisiana that does not have a parish-wide library system and a parish-wide funding source,” said Gaudin. “That’s the main thing. The funding source is a big thing, because without a stable funding source, you have city libraries in many of the cities... but without the funds available on a consistent basis, these libraries kind of struggle and have been struggling for several years.”
Gaudin said that a proposed property tax of a 5.5 mills would fund and maintain all libraries within the parish. He said that the coalition asked the St. Landry Parish Council to pass an ordinance for the creation of the library district and millage. Gaudin said that eight members of the parish council, including the Eunice representatives, opted out of the proposed library district. However, Gaudin said that since his last meeting with the council, two more representatives have joined the effort in favor of a library district. He said that the “east end of the parish is committed” with the six representatives now in favor of the library push.
“Every parish in this state has this advantage,” said Gaudin. “If Eunice doesn’t want to come in, Eunice can stay where it is with the city library. And so, I’m not here to convince you that Eunice should come in. I think that it would be a good idea because, right now, your city library budget is $154,000 a year. You’re putting that into the city library. If you join in with the parish and a parish-wide tax would come along, then that $154,000 that you give to the library, you could keep and give it to the police or the firemen or to Don Reber (economic development) or whoever you want to give it to.”
The library is entitled to up to 10 percent of part of the city’s sales tax collections under terms of its election referendum, though the annual allotment does not approach that.
Gaudin said that Eunice would be getting back a lot more than it puts in to the library tax. Gaudin said that the Eunice tax base would pay about $254,000 a year from citizens and businesses with a return of $600,000 a year for the next 10 years for the library. Homestead exemption would apply.
“The reason for that is that the big tax base is not in Eunice or in Lawtell or in any of these communities like Grand Prairie or Leonville,” said Gaudin. “The big tax base is the Transco plant, the Bobcat plant, the Valero, the Racetrack and some of the businesses in Opelousas. And so the east part of the parish is going to bring in a lot of the money and they’ll be able to do it.”
Gaudin said that most of the property owners of Eunice, with a homestead exemption, would not be affected by the proposed tax. He said that a Eunice homeowner with a home valued at $100,000 would pay about $13.75 a year for the library. He said that an owner of a 500-acre farm, valued at about $1 million with various exemptions, could pay in upwards of $60 a year.
Taxes levied by the parish are subject to homestead exemption. Those levied by city governments are not.
Gerald Patout, the LSU Eunice library director, spoke in favor of the proposed library system. Patout said that if Eunice and St. Landry Parish joined the rest of the state, then the area libraries would be able to join a consortium of Louisiana’s higher-education libraries called LOUIS, which is a Louisiana library network. Patout said that library services and resources provided to the public alone far outweigh the cost to taxpayers.
“We have got to be smart with this, we have got to be strategic,” said Patout before the council. “And if we go into isolation and think that we’re going to be able to sustain a small, municipal library, then we are not going to attract business and the types of people that we want to technically provide the peoples’ university to in these small towns.
“A parish library system, or a library system, is where we need to be. We need to communicate and collaborate better and think about this. 63 parish libraries have systems, we have to talk in terms of systems. I would ask that you please give this your support and consideration and some more conversation.”
There was no response from the council or the mayor, before the council moved to the next agenda item.