10-year LPSS property tax renewed. What will it fund?

LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) -- Several taxes were on ballots across Acadiana this week. Some failed, others passed.

One of largest was in Lafayette parish where the majority of voters renewed a property tax for another ten years.

The ballot said the property tax will go towards the Lafayette Parish School System, but isn't just for some extra project. The 5 mils every year is to make sure each building the school system owns is maintained.

"We can breathe a sigh of relief," LPSS Assistant Superintendent of Business Services, Billy Guidry told News 10.

The upcoming budgets for the Lafayette Parish School system will be easier to keep on track thanks to the 60% of voters who wanted to keep paying taxes from 2022 through 32. The millage is estimated to bring the Lafayette Parish School System $117.5M over ten years, or as Guidry put it, almost $12M every year which go to essential services like utilities, property insurance, maintenance contracts, etc.

He said without it, "We would have to identify $11,750,000 in expenditures elsewhere." That would ultimately lead to wider teacher-student ratios, cut extracurriculars, and limited academy services. The millage is funded entirely through property taxes, and COVID-19 decreased property values for the first time in the 1980's oil bust.

"I understand why they went down," Guidry explained. "Inventory went down for business purposes. We've had some large retail vendors that closed their doors decided or decided not to do business in this area anymore, so we actually saw a decrease."

LPSS took the option to increase all four of their millage rates in order to avoid a $5M hit and bring in the same amount of cash as last year; however, they can't control is sales tax collection. Property and sales tax together make up half of the school's general fund with the state covering the other 50%. 2020 has not only lowered property values but also made sales less than reliable.

"Even with the renewal which I'm very grateful for, we still have our work cut out for us," Guidry admitted.

The Lafayette Parish School System and its four millages actually account for the largest share of property taxes, at about 40%. They are each earmarked for different costs like teacher salaries and benefits. If you have a $200,000 home without homestead exemption you would pay $100 a year toward the building maintenance millage.