By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – With the approval of a tax proposition in St. John the Baptist Parish to rededicate a portion of existing property taxes to the parish recreation department, the parish will soon have an additional $830,000 per year to work with. The question now is what is the best use of that money in expanding recreational services?

Some residents who voted in last week’s L’Observateur online poll said they would like to see the money focused on things like additions to the public parks, adding more swimming and water activities, expanding organized sports or activities that involve the arts.

The majority of the voters, however, more than 60 percent, said they would like to see changes outside of the areas mentioned. The bottom line is that residents of the parish are looking forward to the expansion of services, but what they want isn’t quite clear just yet.

A complete breakdown of the results is as follows:

• 15 percent of respondents chose “The parish should do more for the parks.”

• 9 percent of respondents chose “More swimming/water recreational activities.”

• 5 percent of respondents chose “Expand the offerings for organized sports.”

• 10 percent of respondents chose “Consider activities that involve the arts.”

• 62 percent of respondents chose “Other.”