While the city of New Orleans battles a budget shortfall and Northshore voters consistently vote down tax hikes, how is St. Charles Parish able to lower their tax rates while sitting right next door (so to speak)? St. Charles Parish President Matt Jewell joined WWL’s Tommy Tucker to discuss the measures they’ve taken to ease the tax burden for the parish’s residents. “We’ve taken the opportunity as the tax roll grows and the parish grows in value, to roll that millage rate down. And we want to keep that momentum going forward,” Jewell explained.
According to Jewell, industrial investment in St. Charles Parish along with fiscal accountability by local government has led to the windfall that allowed the parish to ease the financial burden for residents. “The growth came from the overall value of the parish. As companies have invested in St. Charles Parish, they realize we have the lowest millage rate in the entire region now.
While we used to compete with parishes like St. John and Lafourche and Jefferson, now we are 20% below those parishes,” the St. Charles Parish President emphasized.
Jewell noted that millage rate reductions have brought St. Bernard Parish property taxes to a 30-year low according to St. Charles Parish Government’s own statistics. “Not only is the investment in existing companies here important, but also the exploration of tax exemptions from some of those same industries. We’ve said, ‘Let’s be fiscally accountable to the residents and give that money back, keeping it in the economy,’ and that’s something we’re focusing on in the future as well,” he told Tommy Tucker. He added that the parish is actively adding flood protection measures while simultaneously lowering taxes for residents.