KEN KREFFT
Contributing Columnist
I invite Caddo citizens who are interested in juvenile justice to watch for the formation of a citizens’ committee that shall (hopefully) have its initial meeting soon.
The Caddo Parish Commission voted recently to establish such a group. Each commissioner is to appoint one citizen constituent. I’ll write future columns in this paper as we go forward in our efforts to discuss and recommend solutions to our juvenile justice system. The following paragraph summarizes a few points.
An annual $2.75 million deficit in the juvenile justice fund should be remedied. A 24-bed facility needs a thorough review. A sales tax hike would be quite difficult in that the total of local sales taxes is 4.6%. The Louisiana state sales tax is 4.45%. Local sales taxes can’t by law exceed the state rate. Caddo’s rate was legal when the Louisiana rate was still 5%. That fell by 0.55%, effective July 1, 2019, pursuant to a legislative act. A property tax in all of Caddo could cover our annual juvenile justice deficit. Without new tax revenue, annual deficit spending continues.
Do we need additional beds for juveniles? I think so. Other people think we have a sufficient number. Adding new beds is expensive to construct, and then to operate and maintain.
The last attempt to raise tax revenue for juvenile justice was a parish-wide 0.1% sales and use tax election held Nov. 7, 2006. Forty-nine percent of Caddo voters said “aye.” The 51% “nay” votes thus defeated that tax proposal. There were previous failed tries.