Moody stands against SLP Library Tax, SLP Council tables matter

Some Eunice leaders are not in favor of a new tax to fund a St. Landry Parish Library System as proposed by parish residents who comprise the Library Coalition.
Mayor Claud “Rusty” Moody, Jr. said that he is “definitely opposed” to what the St. Landry Parish Library Coalition has proposed.
“If I’m going to ask the citizens of Eunice to support any kind of tax, it’s going to be for the betterment of the city and not for the betterment of the parish community,” said Moody. “I’m not going to ask the people of Eunice to support something that we already have, that we already support. If I have to ask for taxes, I want it to go to Eunice and not have our tax money spread all over the parish.”
Moody did not attend last week’s special meeting of the St. Landry Parish Council – where advocates spoke in favor of the proposed library system. The council did not vote on whether to call a tax election because certain legal procedures had not been fulfilled.
Coalition spokesman and Opelousas attorney Bruce Gaudin was on the agenda for “discussion” about the proposed library funding but was not, however, on the agenda to submit legislation to the council.
Therefore, according to the St. Landry Parish Assistant District Attorney Lance Pitre, who is the council’s counsel, any introduction of a proposed ordinance at Wednesday’s special meeting would have gone against the parish government’s home-rule charter.
“That ordinance was brought to us at the last minute, it was a special meeting and I had to do what was right,” said Pitre. “Because the special meeting did not have that ‘introduction of ordinance’ on the call, our charter doesn’t allow it. But I did offer to (the library coalition) that they could present it at the next meeting.”
The next meeting, however, will ne too late for the library supporters who want quick action. Due to state election guidelines, the ordinance would fall outside of the required time allotted for a public vote and thus would not be on the May 3rd ballot but rather the November ballot, provided a majority of council calls for an election.
“We’re disappointed, but we’re not going to stop,” said Gaudin. “I think that people deserve a parish-wide library system. I think they need it and I think that they’re in favor of it. When we educate the council and educate the people, I think ultimately we’re going to be successful, as every other parish was successful 60 years ago.”
Following the council meeting, another Eunice official seemed to not be in favor of the newly proposed Library District.
Gary Courville, the District 13 representative, said the proposal left him with more questions than answers. He had some concerns about the coalition’s desired May ballot date.
“The School Board tax renewal is going to be on the tax roll also and I got some questions they need to answer,” said Courville. “If we put both of those taxes on the same ballot at the same time, I don’t want it to be conflicting with the public schools. They both might not pass. Either (the library coalition) are real, real clever, in my assumption, to intermingle the taxes on the ballot and they don’t care. Or they were real stupid in not knowing that they had a school board renewal.”
Overall, Courville did not say whether he favored a proposed parish library district.
“Eunice is taken care of from what I understand,” said Courville. “They omitted that from their proposal, that Eunice had a tax for the current library in Eunice. And I think that Eunice gives their library more than $100,000 a year.”
Up to 10 percent of a Eunice sales tax is dedicated to the Opelousas-Eunice Library. The current budget provides about $154,000 this fiscal year for the library.
The library coalition advocates argue that St. Landry Parish is the only parish in the state that does not have a parish library system. It’s a fact that a coalition of citizens in the area would like to see changed with some legislation. The proposed ordinance that the coalition hopes to submit to the council for a public referendum is one that Gaudin said was drafted by State Senator Eric LaFleur.
While not all of the parish council seemed opposed to the idea of the library system, many questioned the source of funding and suggested alternative to a property tax.
St. Landry Parish Representative Wayne Ardoin, of District Nine, said that the library coalition should look to Evangeline Downs Racino for their funding source.
Previously, Eunice Economic Development Chairman Don Rebar said he thought money could be better spent for development than for a new library system.
Committee member Tony Baltakis, also a parish economic development panel member, disagreed, saying one does not exclude the other.
LSU Eunice LeDoux Library Gerald Patout, Jr. said in an email, “As you are aware from your own professional perspectives as pertain to information literacy and information technology, this fundamental parish literacy challenge now is certain to get even more complex in years to come as information formats/genres continue to evolve and seek a levels of utility and acceptance by consumers and end users.
“I am not exactly sure how skipping over mastery of the printed word is going to play out, but I do suspect there will be effects in this parish for many years to come and any business or corporation considering a move or relocation (of families) to this area, for whatever reason, is certain inquire as to workforce readiness and some measure of local intellectual capital.”