At the April 13 meeting of the Ville Platte City Council, local business owner Brian Ardoin spoke in opposition of the sheriff’s proposed one-cent sales tax. Councilman Bryant Riggs provided additional comments on the issue, saying, “I think about my constituents. The people of Ville Platte will be the majority paying for this tax. We have the most businesses in this city. We have more shopping areas in this city, so we will be paying for this tax.”
Riggs reiterated Ardoin’s point about crime statistics of parishes similar to Evangeline. Those parishes, such as Allen Parish, have higher tax rates and a higher crime rate. Riggs said when he worked at the Opelousas Police Department, they had one of the biggest budgets he had seen, but the crime rate kept going up. “Throwing money at law enforcement doesn’t bring crime down,” said Riggs. “What brings down crime is the community and law enforcement working together, good policing, and each parish working with each other.”
As for the proposed sales tax, Riggs said it takes time to look into budgets to find where to allocate funds to make progressive changes. He said the sheriff has only been on the job for a few months and needs to take the time to work on ways to fix the issues without raising taxes. As an example, Riggs said he was able to bring the Ville Platte Police Chief’s budget from $2.3 million to $1.7 million by cutting wasteful spending. After the budget cuts, the council was still able to give VPPD officers a raise to $15 an hour. “I’m pro-raise. I’m for raises for deputies, but a permanent sales tax is not the way to go.”
Riggs sat down for an in-depth interview about the sales tax proposal and also about Cabot’s request for a $4 million tax break. He was wary of the way the sales tax was proposed. “The public hearing was during Mardi Gras week, during the winter storm,” he said. “How are you going to get a fair amount of citizens to attend that hearing to understand what this tax is all about?”
Riggs also took issue with the sales tax being a special election when it could have been added to the ballot of one of the previous elections, such as the election for City Marshall, when there would have been more voter turn-out. “Now this special election is costing tax payers money, and because it’s a special election, historically there is low voter turn-out. The lower the turn-out, the better the chance this tax is going to pass,” he said, adding, “It feels calculated.
While both the sheriff and the tax assessor have attended meetings to present the sales tax, neither has spoken before the Ville Platte City Council. Riggs said that was “disrespectful to the citizens and the elected officials of Ville Platte, especially since we’re the largest city in the parish. We’re going to take the brunt force of this tax. I think we should have been the first one to be visited, so we could reach out to our citizens and let them know about this tax so they could be informed to make their decision.”
In regards to the budget, Riggs feels the sheriff has not exhausted all of his resources. “The Sheriff’s Department is an organization by itself. It’s almost like running a municipality. He has full control.” He suggested the sheriff investigate whether the usage of bonds could be utilized while the department generates the funding it needs.
On the issue of building a new jail, Riggs feels citizens should not have to pay more taxes to build a jail while the public schools need upgrades. “The same people who are pushing to pass this sales tax to build a jailhouse are the same folks who voted against the sales tax to build a new schoolhouse not long ago.”
While he criticized the proposed sales tax, Riggs said he does support the sheriff. “I’m not taking anything away from the sheriff. He’s doing a good job,” he said, adding there are grants out there to assist the Sheriff Department. “Let’s go get this grant money everybody else is getting around here. Let’s get the money the sheriff needs in other ways, but just to raise a tax off the top, without giving people time to process what this is for is not right. I don’t support it.”
On Cabot’s Tax Exemption
The police jury voted to give Cabot the $4 million tax break at a special meeting on April 14. “One juror made the vote against the Cabot tax break. He pretty much said we’re broke and should not be giving out tax breaks,” said Riggs, adding he respects Sidney Fontenot for being the only juror to give a vote of “no.”
Riggs said Cabot is not adding on to their facility and upgrading equipment because they just wanted improvements and to create more jobs in the future. “They’re upgrading because the EPA has placed a hefty fine and regulated them to upgrade their infrastructure because they were caught polluting our air in Ville Platte with carbon black. In other words they were out of compliance with EPA standards. Now the taxpayers of Evangeline Parish will flip the bill for their mess-up for polluting our air quality.” Riggs bases this information from a Nola.com/TimesPicayune article from May, 2020.
The sheriff will also get a vote on whether Cabot receives a tax break. Guillory has until April 27 to cast his vote. “Now the sheriff has to vote if he will give up his portion of the $4 million that would go to the parish,” said Riggs. “That vote will not happen until he knows if the permanent one-cent sales tax will pass. If it passes he will give up Cabot’s money, and the taxpayers will have the burden of making it up to the sheriff. This is some screwed up economics and politics at its worst.”
Other entities in the parish, including schools, stand to lose out on the remainder of the $4 million Cabot would be paying in taxes. “I appreciate the good Cabot does. They give back to the community, out of good faith, however they should not be looking for anything in return from the tax payers by way of a tax break,” said Riggs. “During my research, Cabot as a whole is worth $3.2 billion. They’re already under a tax exemption, and now they want an additional $4 million. Our kids are getting educated in crumbling schools. If the school board votes for the Cabot tax cut, they’re taking money from our school children. What message does that send to our school children?”
In regards to the argument that Cabot will leave Evangeline Parish if they do not get their tax break, Riggs said Cabot is not planning on leaving Ville Platte. “They pay some of the cheapest millage tax in Evangeline Parish compared to their other facilities in Louisiana and probably the whole United States. They already started this project. I highly believe they wouldn’t just pack up and go to start another facility somewhere else with higher millage rates.”
The Evangeline Parish School Board will vote on the Cabot tax exemption on Wednesday, April 21. The election for the sheriff’s proposed one-cent sales tax is Saturday, April 24. Polls open at 7:00 a.m. and close at 8:00 p.m. Riggs encouraged everyone in Evangeline Parish to vote. “We’re facing a permanent sales tax. It’s going to be one of the highest sales tax rates in the state. It’s going to deter people from coming to shop in Evangeline Parish. Not voting is not the answer.” Riggs suggested if anyone wants to propose a one-cent sales tax in Evangeline Parish, the money could be better put towards improving the schools or fixing all the roads in every municipality.