LEONARD GRAY

LULING – St. Charles Parish Superintendent of Schools Dr. Rodney Lafon made his pitch to a group of business and industry leaders Thursday for the one-cent sales tax and $28 million bond issue on the Oct. 20 ballot. The presentation was greeted with polite resignation as most of the tax burden in St. Charles Parish is borne by business and industry. Without passage of the sales tax, Lafon cautioned in a 15-minute video and in person, revenues will be unable to keep up with rising expenses. The bulk of those rising expenses, he explained, are in the areas of health insurance and fuel costs. Meanwhile, other needs of the school district have gone unaddressed, while budget cuts during the last four years have totaled $8 million. Also, without the tax increase, the school district’s fund balance will plummet from the present $2.2 million to a deficit of nearly $10 million in four years, according to Lafon. Substantial cuts in revenues from state and local sources have meant a loss of $5 million each year. Meanwhile, class sizes have increased, 74 teaching positions have been cut and no local pay raises have been forthcoming in the last five years. The lack of pay increases have resulted in several parishes climbing past St. Charles Parish, draining away teaching talent. Other programs have also gone begging, such as the school bus replacement program, normally $600,000 per year, cut since 1999. The bond issue, to finance several capital improvements, would finance a new middle school in Luling to replace Landry Middle, additions to Luling Elementary, Norco Elementary and St. Rose Elementary, among other projects. Larry Sesser, director of physical plant services, said the district has looked at leasing large vacant buildings such as the two former Winn-Dixie supermarket sites on Paul Maillard Road. While the sites are large enough to house the planned “third high school,” both would require costly renovations and the district would still not own the facilities. In addressing the sales tax drop of recent years, one business leader suggested the anticipated increases in population should make up the sales tax revenue. To this, financial advisor Jim Malohn responded that with the anticipated hundreds of new families will come thousands of new students, prompting an average of $6,800 spent per student, further aggravating the financial situation. Rising costs of financing retiree benefits continue to make inroads to the school district’s finances, Malohn added, as well as rising utility costs. Additional public forums and meetings are being scheduled across the parish, according to public information officer Rochelle Touchard, to get the message out that this election is “not a run on money.” Lafon commented, especially as he regarded the millions of dollars in the budget already slashed: “That one upsets me a little bit.”