Newly sworn-in Evangeline Parish Assessor Chris Guillory kicked off the February docket of the Rotary Club of Ville Platte and had with him Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Mike Francis.
Guillory said his office manages 24 thousand pieces of property in the parish. “Property doesn’t vanish,” he said. “It’s usually only divided and multiplied, so that’s a growing number every year.”
The office also processes 200 property transfers that it receives from the Evangeline Parish Clerk of Court Office. This intergovernmental connection leads to one of Guillory’s top priorities in office which is efficiency.
“We have to update all of that information and share it with our sheriff and other governing bodies so they will know who to send tax bills to,” he said. “We’re trying to integrate more technology into that office. We need efficiency, and we’re going to do that. We’re looking at going digital on all transfers. When (Chief Deputy Josh Fontenot) will get the file from the Clerk’s Office, he can assign it to certain clerks in our office and get the job done digitally. It should save us a lot of time and be more efficient.”
Another top priority for the Assessor’s Office is Internet mapping. “That mapping service hasn’t been updated in about three years,” Guillory said. “It’s going to cost us about $8 thousand, but we’re prepared to spend the money to be as accurate as we can in that office.”
He continued, “It’s not going to happen over night, but please expect changes in the next couple of months.”
Guillory, a former educator and coach, also said he wants to conduct outreach to seniors in the parish schools.
“Every senior is this parish will have responsibilities as property owners,” he said. “They’re the next wave of property owners, and I want to educate them better.”
Along with wanting to educate seniors, Guillory also wants to educate the parish on facts regarding Sheriff Charles Guillory’s proposed one-cent sales tax.
Guillory said his office pulled the sheriff’s budget. “We have all the information at our fingertips,” he said, “so that’s why I feel my office can help educate people on what this tax is about. It’s not about a jail. It’s about running his department.
After providing facts about the sheriff’s budget that was set in 1977, Guillory stated, “If (the sheriff) keeps up at the rate he’s going now, he’s going to go broke by July or August. He won’t have a penny in his account.”
Guillory then turned the floor over to Francis who represents the largest district on the Public Service Commission. The district includes Evangeline Parish and stretches from Catahoula Parish to Johnson Bayou and from Many to New Iberia.
“One of the things the Public Service Commission does is regulate monopolies,” he said. “Electricity is a monopoly. Every month we get an accumulation of what the cost of electricity is to compare it to other states. The price of electricity in Louisiana most months is the lowest in America. That’s one place Louisiana is first, and I’m real proud about that.”
He went on to say, “I tell everybody we’ve got the lowest electricity rates in America and the best transmission system in America because about every three years a hurricane comes through and blows everything down.”
A week later, the Ville Platte Rotarians heard from Lafayette native Sarah Dake, who is the Acadiana Regional Representative for Senator John Kennedy.
Dake said she grew up in politics ever since she was 14-years-old and officially began working in politics for Congressman Clay Higgins. Like something out of The Godfather, Dake said, “Senator Kennedy’s office gave me a call and made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”
Dake meets with leaders and stakeholders throughout the Acadiana area on issues and reports back to the senator.
“He is not going to do a good job if he’s not representing the people of Louisiana,” Dake said. “The way for him to do that is to have people like me traveling around and meeting with people like you.”
Dake also said Senator Kennedy hopes to meet with the current president “to preserve the oil and gas industry in Louisiana.”
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Tony Marks
Editor