Daily World from Opelousas, Louisiana • Page 7

DAILYW0RLD.COM DAILY WORLD SUNDAY, AUGUST 6, 2006 7 A District I District Districts a-plenty St. Landry Parish has a total of 35 taxing districts, the majority falling under roads, drainage and fire. The maps on the left show the main three districts, and the map on the right shows all three districts overlaid atop each other. The result is several homeowners and businesses who fall under different districts, each of which have different taxes. Road District "Those four businesses should be paying about 39 percent of that tax this year." Rhyn Duplechain St.

Landry Parish assessor, referring to the Wal-Mart Distribution Center, Valero Refinery, Roy Martin Lumber and Transco Gas, the four largest businesses in the area covered by the road districts road within the city limits but about a half mile of the road is in the parish. Those portions of the street outside the city are in the road taxing district overseen by District 2 Councilman James C. Eaglin while, because of reapportionment, the street is now in the electoral district of District 3 Councilman Pat Miller. Eaglin was opposed to spending "his money" in Miller's District. In addition to the many varying purposes of the districts, they also come in several configurations.

For the most part, these break down into maintenance districts and bonding districts. The bonding districts are set up to retire a specific set of bonds, such as building a new fire station or digging out a major section of a drainage canal, The millage on these bonding taxing' districts can go up or down depending on the economy. "It's adjusted to bring in the Drainage Districts Districts Continued from Page 1A in three separate special taxing districts one for drainage, one for roads and a third for fire protection. The disparity is even greater just north of the city, where in recent years the tax rate has been as high as 135 mills, meaning taxes on the same home would be three times higher outside the city than inside. "It varies all over the parish.

It iB considerably more in some areas and considerably less in others Duplechain said. The reason is that the parish currently home to 35 special taxing districts, one of the highest totals in the state. Collectively, these districts bring in about three times more revenue than parish government as a whole. And, once again thanks to homestead exemption, business is picking up most of the bill. As an example, in terms of revenue, the parish's nine road districts brought in just under $3 million last year.

"Those four businesses should be paying about 39 percent of that tax this year," Duplechain said, referring to the Wal-Mart Distribution Center, Valero Refinery, Roy Martin Lumber and Transco Gab; 'the four largest businesses in the area covered by the road districts! Another reason business and Death notices Ray Dejean Jr. Funeral services for Mr. Ray Peter Dejean 47, are incomplete at this time. Williams Funeral Home of Opelousas is in charge of arrangements. Francis Dietz IOTA Funeral services for Mr.

Francis Dietz, 63, will be held at 3 p.m. today at St. John's Lutheran Church here with burial in Maxie Cemetery. Mr. Dietz, a resident of Iota, Obituaries Continued from Page 6A Wilson Jack Sr.

VILLE PLATTE Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Monday, Aug. 7, 2006, at St. John the Baptist Church for Mr. Wilson Jack 74, who died Thursday, Aug.

3, 2006, at Village Creek Nursing and Rehab Center in Lumberton, Texas. We wish to take this means of thanking our many relatives, neighbors, and friends who assisted us at the death of our beloved: The 10 So, a tax per the in, to a in remains in existence until the property it owns, mainly the old hospital and several medical office buildings are sold. Voters do get a chance to say yes or no to the taxing districts every 10 years but to date no district has ever been voted out of existence. While supporters of the districts say this proves they are doing a good job and therefore supported by the people they service, Duplechain is not so sure. He said the overwhelming majority of the reauthorization votes come in July or January and are often the only item on the ballot.

"For off-season elections you tend to have a low turnout," Duplechain said. Parish Registrar of Voters John Moreau agrees, pointing to the just completed July vote to reauthorize the maintenance tax for the Ward One South Gravity Drainage District. For that election the turnout was only 3 percent. While the voters gave the district a 72 percent "yes' vote, that total amounted to only 112 actual voters out of district's more than 5,000 potential voters. Moreau said such low voter turnout is typical for reauthorization votes.

"You have low interest at that time of the year. People are on vacation and with no other items on the ballot, people real-1 ly don't take an interest," Moreau said. Borromeo Catholic Church. The family requests that visiting hours be observed at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Grand Coteau from 6 p.m.

until 9 p.m. Sunday and will continue from 8 a.m. today until time of the services. View the full obituary and guestbook online at www.melanconfuneralhome.net. Melancon Funeral Home of Carencro, 4615 N.

University 896-6366, is in charge of arrangements. Visiting hours will be observed from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m. today, at Williams Funeral Home in Opelousas. Rosary will be recited at 7 p.m.

Williams Funeral Home of Opelousas, 337-942-2037, is in charge of arrangements. I FAX US YOUR ADVERTISING i I AT 943-7067 I Call 942-4971 I to confirm fax was 1 received. amount needed. As the value of the property in the district goes up, the tax comes down," Duplechain said. They also tend to go away once the bonds are paid off.

But, due to a lack of oversight, that is not necessarily the case. Duplechain pointed to the bonding district established in 1980 to pay for the new parish jail. While the bonds for the jail were paid off about 2000, no one noticed the tax was still in place until the new parish government took affect in 2003. Parish President Don Menard immediately brought the matter to the attention of the Parish Council that abolished the district, but not before more than $1 million in extra taxes had been collected. "That's just not taking care of business," Duplechain said.

While bonding districts tend to disappear, that is not the case for maintenance districts. The overwhelming majority of the parish's taxing districts are maintenance districts. "They usually stay around," Duplechain said. In his 20 years as parish assessor he is aware of only one such district that has disappeared. That was the Eunice Hospital District that went away when a new, private hospital was built in the 'city last year, replacing the old publicly funded Moosa Hospital.

Technically even that district still exists, though it no longer collects taxes. The district John Condry Funeral services will be held Monday at an 11 a.m. Mass of Christian Burial in St. Charles Borromeo Roman Catholic Church for Rev. John T.

Condry, S. 89, who died at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2006, at Our Lady of the Oaks Retreat House in Grand Coteau. Interment will be in Jesuit Cemetery in Grand Coteau.

A rosary will be prayed at 7 p.m. Sunday in St. Charles sons, Herbert (Rita) Brown and Wellwick (Kayre) Brown, of Port Barre, Herman (Elaine) Brown, of San Bernadino, and Patrick (Jackie) Brown, of Humble, Texas; six daughters, Jeanette (John) Fruge', of Los Angeles, Ella Trahan and Patricia (Frank) Chavis, of Houston, Texas, Shirley (Anthony) Rene', Ella Louise (Floyd) Demouchet and Theresa (Bruce) Lastrapes, all of Port Barre; two sisters, Lillian Leblanc, of Opelousas, and Lucille Luckett, of Bronx, N.Y.; 56 grandchildren, 66 greatgrandchildren, and a host of nieces, nephews, and friends. Mr. Brown was preceded in death by his wife, Edna Mae Doucette Brown; five daughters, Betty Jean Brown, Beverly Powell, Katherine Harris, Barbara Anderson, Joan Brown; one son, Joseph Curry Brown; six brothers and seven sisters.

erty he was looking at was in a library district, a road district, a drainage district and a fire district, meaning his property taxes alone would exceed $1 million a year. While the districts, all created under the old, Police Jury system, tend to follow the boundaries of the then Police Jury and now Parish Council voting districts, that is not always the case. The districts, once established, are fixed on the ground, but the political districts they were designed to serve keep mpving around. Every 10 years, when the federal census comes in, the parish is reapportioned and the various election districts are redrawn. This can mean that a taxing district set up to benefit one Council member's district is now partially in a different election district.

As an example, last month the Parish Council killed a plan to upgrade' Prudhomine Lane. The City of Opelousas is upgrading the majority of the Church here with burial in the church mausoleum. Ms. Savoy, a resident of Basile, died Thursday, Aug. 3, 2006, at Acadian Medical Center in Eunice.

Visiting hours were observed from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday. Quirk Son Funeral Home of Basile is in charge of arrangements. Haylie Lee VILLE PLATTE Funeral services for Ms.

Haylie Renee Lee, 20, will be held at 2 p.m. grandchildren. Visitation will be observed from 4 p.m. until 10 p.m. today, Aug.

6, 2006, in the funeral home. Owens-Thomas Funeral Home of Ville Platte is in charge of arrangements. Wilton Brown OPELOUSAS Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Monday, Aug. 7, 2006, at Holy Ghost Catholic Church (747 North Union St.) in Opelousas, for Mr.

industry take up most of the burden is because homes are assessed at only 10 percent of their value in the parish. That means that a $100,000 home, for example, is only taxed on $2,500 of its value. first $75,000 is free because of homestead exemption, leaving $25,000, which at percent comes to the $2,500 total. A mill the standard taxing unit is one tenth of a cent. if this $100,000 house is in 15-mill taxing district, the bill would come to $37.50 year.

While a search of records in assessor's office can help a property owner know exactly what taxing districts they are the process can be challenging. In addition to the big three nine road districts, 13 drainage districts and six fire districts the parish also has two hospital districts, three levee districts, a library district and a forestry district. It is possible for one piece of property fall into as many of five of these special taxing districts. Gerard Perron, executive director of the St. Landry Economic and Industrial Development District, has called this tangled web of overlapping taxing districts an economic mine field.

He pointed to one potential developer who wanted to locate $20 million shopping center the area north of Sunset. That plan collapsed when the developer discovered the prop- died at 6 a.m. Friday, Aug. 4, 2006. Visiting hours were observed from 2 p.m.

to 10 p.m. Saturday and will be observed from 8 a.m. today until time of the services. Ardoin's Funeral Home of Iota is in charge of arrangements. Margery Savoy BASILE Funeral services for Ms.

Margery Davis Savoy, 78, were held at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Augustine Catholic Interment will be in True Vine Cemetery in Grand Prairie. The Rev. Freddie Jack will conduct the services.

Survivors Include his wife, Harriet Jack, of Ville Platte, two daughters, Linda Jones, of Beaumont, Texas, and Birdie Jack, of Lafayette; four step-children, Louanna Frank, of Houston, Texas, Louhilda Dixon, of Houston, Texas, Harriet Pratter, of Ville Platte, and Veronica Fontenot, of Ville Platte, seven sons, Terry Jack Sr. and Wilson Jack of Beaumont, Texas, Joseph Jack of Lake Charles, Horace Jack and David Jack, of Houma, Ricky Jack, of Baton Rouge, and Michael Jack, of Lafayette, one step-son, Mitchell Fontenot, of Mamou, one sister, Mary Fontenot, Ville Platte, one brother, Wilfred Jack, of Ville Platte, 19 grandchildren and six great- 1 YY Yv" today at Our Lady Queen of All Saints Catholic Church here with burial in Gates of Heaven Cemetery. Ms. Lee died at 3 a.m. Friday, Aug.

4, 2006, from injuries sustained in an auto accident. Visiting hours began at 10 a.m. Saturday and will continue today until time of the services. A rosary was recited at 7 p.m. Ardoin's Funeral Home of Ville Platte is in charge of arrangements.

Wilton 100, who died at 12:15 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2006, at Opelousas General Health System. Mr. Brown was a farmer and lumber mill worker.

He helped to build St. Mary Catholic Church in Port Barre, not only spiritually, but also physically with his own hands along with the help of other members of the community. He was very active in the community. He drove his car until he was 98 and a half years old. Interment will be in Heart Cemetery in Port Barre.

The Rev. Raymond Jones and the Rev. Harold Trahan will officiate at the services. Mr. Brown was the son of the late Frank Brown and Marie Key Brown.

He was one of 15 children. He and his wife, the late Edna Mae Doucette Brown had 16 children. Survivors include fours StTnTin Befchmons SCHOOlf the boys' division of Schools of the Sacred Heart, Grand Coteau December 8, 1944 'June 23, 2006 A heartfelt thanks also goes out to all who perhaps sent a lovely card, or sat quietly in a chair. Perhaps you sent a funeral spray. If so, we saw it there.

Perhaps you spoke the kindest words, as any friend could say Perhaps you were not there at all, just thought of us that day. Whatever you did to console our hearts, we thank you so much, what ever the part. Accepting 2006-2007 applications FreK4 2nd grade, additional grades yearly Call 662-5275 for information or visit www.berchmans.org Berchmans School accepts boys of all races, religions, and ethnic backgrounds who meet the admission criteria. I.