By MOLLY DRYMAN

Staff Reporter

HAHNVILLE — The St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office will hold a millage proposal meeting sponsored by St. Charles Glass at the Dougie V’s Experanza Restaurant on Thursday.

Breakfast will be served at 7:45 a.m. and the meeting will begin at 8 a.m. This meeting will be in reference to the July 16 millage election.

Two other meetings will be held next week at on June 6 at Hahnville High School and June 7 at Destrehan High School to explain the upcoming millage election, according to Capt. Pat Yoes of the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office.

The St. Charles Parish Sheriff Greg Champagne is having these meeting to get the residents involved to help them understand the proposal they will be voting for which authorizes a 3.75-mill tax that will generate $2.7 million for salary increases for all employees and related expenses, according to Yoes. The related expensed include employment taxes, pension benefits, overtime and hospitalization insurance.

According to information provided by the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office, the last time voters approved a tax increase for the law enforcement of St. Charles Parish was 25 years ago. Also, in the past nine years starting salary for deputies was raised from $16,800 per year to $26,084 per year. Despite the increase employees are still leaving for higher paying jobs.

Included in the loss were four deputies and three experienced detectives. The millage will increase the current salary approximately 15 percent to $30,140 per year, closing the gap and make the pay more competitive, according to Yoes.

For property owners with an assessed value of $100,000 the increase in tax will be $9.38 more per year, for $150,000 the increase is $28.13 more per year and for $200,000 the increase will be $46.88 more per year. Homes assessed at or under $75,000 will still have a homestead exemption, according to information provided by the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office.