Wednesday, September 19, 2012

The Coliseum

No, not the one in Rome, we've got one in Rapides Parish, a local venue owned by the parish governing board.  It needs an upgrade, badly.  So, the local governing body (we call them Police Jury) is trying to float a tax to get the Coliseum upgraded.
Voters will decide in November whether saving the nearly 50-year-old Rapides Coliseum in Alexandria is worth the price tag. Between now and Nov. 6, stakeholders in the facility plan to do everything they can to persuade them.
The upgrades and renovation are going to cost $23 million US dollars, and the Police Jury want to float a property tax to fund the renovation.
On the Nov. 6 ballot is a $23 million bond issue, backed by a 2.5-mill property tax, to fund the renovations and upgrades. Voters also are being asked to pass a 1-mill property tax to fund coliseum operations over the next 20 years.
So, if they get what they want, we property owners will fund the operation by a 3.5 mil property tax. And there's the rub. There are lots of folks who use the Coliseum who aren't property owners. I don't know what the percentage of property-owners vs non-property-owners might be, but I'm tired of paying property taxes to fund the folks whut don't own property.

It seems to me that the property owners are funding lots of stuff in this parish that the renters don't have to fund, yet the renters get to vote on it, just like they're someone.  Let everyone pay their fair share.  For myself, I'm voting against any taxes at all on the local ballot.  If the Coliseum needs an upgrade, then let it make its own money, pay its own way.  I'm recommending that everyone vote NO against any property tax.

6 comments:

Old NFO said...

Yeah, that's pretty much endemic nationwide... sigh

tiwimon said...

I might be missing something, but around here rentals are still owned by someone or some entity and they pay property taxes on their rental property, even multi unit dwellings, and the respective rental owners have the ability to vote if they live in the same area

Termite said...

Renters DO pay property taxes, they just don't realize it. Their rent includes the yearly property tax.
Still, it's a poor way to fund the Rapides Coliseum. Hollywood Henderson has a bunch of good ideas on running it, and has expressed them quite well. I've talked with him about it, and his ideas seem sound to me. But the police jury has no interest in his ideas. Small minds in small town politics, just like the airport.

Anonymous said...

A ton of the "renters" rent is paid by the government which means income tax that I pay will be used to pay for the upgrade in addition to my property tax. Hell "no". I say it is outdated, to small, has limited parking and is just a sink hole for my tax money. Maybe Hollywood could get a loan to buy it and then do with it what he will. Sell it or tear it down and uses that land for something productive.

Rivrdog said...

At least you get to vote on it.

Here in my suburban city of Gresham, Hizzoner decided that he's tired of fighting for property tax increases and not getting them passed (we're a bit more conservative East of Portland than they are 15 miles to the West), so he is IMPOSING a $7.50/MONTH "fee" on every household and every business. The fee will raise $3.5 million per year, and do all the things (pay for expanded police, fire and parks) that recent property tax offers would have, but those have all been defeated. One may reasonably expect that this "fee" will be regularly increased until the big spenders at Shitty Hall have everything they ever dreamed about paid for.

Anonymous said...

The government owned rental units damn sure don't pay any property tax. Just like none of the national forest millions of acres in Louisiana are not on the tax rolls but my one acre sure is.