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Harahan property tax to be levied by City Council
Source:
nola.com
- Oct 16, 2012
By Drew Broach, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
on October 15, 2012 at 5:20 PM, updated October 15, 2012 at 10:09 PM
Harahan's property tax comes up for a City Council vote Thursday night, and Mayor Vinny Mosca calls for a slight reduction to avoid collecting $15,559 more in 2012. Councilman Lawrence Landry, however, isn't convinced a reduction is warranted. "We really need some funds," he said Monday.
The issue arrives at the council a month after Jefferson Parish Assessor Tom Capella determined the total value of taxable property in Harahan is $78.5 million. That's up 1.3 percent from 2011.
Last year, Harahan levied the voter-approved maximum of 15.81 mills, producing $1.2 million in property tax revenue. Were the City Council to retain that level, this year's revenue would run $15,559 higher.
Mosca calls for rolling back the tax to 15.62 mills, to offset the potential windfall. He said some property owners newly object to paying an extra $27 yearly per household for curbside garbage recycling, a service that the City Council reinstated in July. And city officials are considering adding a fee of $30 to $50 per year for sewerage, he said.
Landry said retaining the higher tax in times of rising property values is not the popular option. "The last time we had a chance to do it we rolled it forward, and we took a lot of flak for it," he said.
Yet it might be the only way for City Hall to maintain the same level of services, what with inflation and market forces raising the cost of government, he said.
Category: General Business
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