Voters in St. Tammany Parish narrowly shot down the renewal of a public health tax Saturday, the latest defeat in a parish where voters have increasingly voted against tax proposals in recent years.
Without the tax, the parish will be plunged deeper into a budget crisis. Parish government estimates it will be $7 million short funding expenses that the state requires the parish to cover. Without the public health tax, the parish will find itself without the $4.4 million it produces each year.
Complete but unofficial returns show that the measure failed by a thin margin, with 51% of voters opposing the tax’s renewal.
First passed in 1984 and renewed every 10 years since, the health tax helps fund mental health services. At 1.78 mills, the owner of a $300,000 home would pay $40 annually, the parish said.
But in recent years, some of the public health dollars have been re-appropriated to make up for the loss of other sources of revenue, including a criminal justice tax that brought in millions and covered numerous court and jail-related expenses. Officials have repeatedly asked voters to approve taxes to fund the courts, jail and District Attorney's office; repeatedly, voters have shot down those requests.
But by law, the parish has to fund medical services for inmates in its jail. So without a dedicated criminal justice tax, St. Tammany used money collected through the public health tax to fund those services.
Without a public health tax, the parish will likely have to cut spending from another part of its budget in order to pay for jail medical services.