JPSB rolls forward millage rates

Sept. 27, 2012 -- The Jefferson Parish School Board voted at a special meeting yesterday to “roll forward” millage rates on three taxes, allowing the district to collect a little more than $1 million more in property taxes due to increased property tax assessments.

The vote was 6-3, as indicated in the chart below:

A vote to adjust millage rates is required whenever property values are reassessed. When property values increase, the taxing agency (JPSB, in this case), must vote to roll back millage rates so that the dollar amount a tax generates does not automatically increase. The taxing agency can then, by a two-thirds vote, “roll forward” the rate to its pre-existing maximum.

The JPSB voted unanimously to roll back the millage rate on three taxes from a total 13.91 mills to 13.61 mills, then voted, as allowed by state law, to roll the millage forward to the 13.91 rate. A fourth tax, for teacher raises, pre-k, and longer school days that voters approved this past April, was not subject to the roll back/roll forward. That tax rate is 9 mills.

The Jefferson Parish assessor sent the district certified property assessments last week indicating that the value of assessed property in the parish increased by 2.2%.

The district’s chief financial officer, Robert Fulton, presented the Board with comparisons of other parishes’ tax rates, showing that Jefferson’s was far below that of other parishes. Only Plaquemines and Terrebonne, parishes with large oil revenues, have lower millage rates for their school systems.

The actual tax increase due to the roll forward will be $22.50 per year on a property with an assessed value of $150,000, $52.50 per year on a property with an assessed value of $250,000, and $82.50 per year on a property with an assessed value of $350,000.

Fulton also gave the Board information about significant operating increases the district faces, including insurance rates, retirement payments, and gasoline, which has tripled in cost since the last reassessment, Fulton said.

JFT President Meladie Munch told the Board that JFT supported the roll forward, noting that the district faces constantly rising mandates and that other funding sources (state aid through the MFP; sales taxes; and federal aid) are decreasing.

“This is for our kids, our community, and a better society. If we want a good quality of life, we need to pay for it,” Munch said. She then told the Board “You, as elected officials, were elected to make sure there is a funding source for our children.”