Bossier City Council votes to renegotiate sales-tax collection agreement with school board after public criticism; council trims resolution language

The Bossier City Council voted to give formal notice of its intent to renegotiate the joint sales-and-use tax collection agreement with the Bossier Parish School Board, and amended the proposed resolution to remove language that public speakers called inflammatory.

The move, approved during a council meeting, launches the notice required by the existing local services agreement and begins the 90-day period for negotiations, council members and staff said during debate.

The resolution drew extended public comment and debate. West Marriott of Sova Life criticized the resolution’s wording and urged the council to "reject this resolution as written," saying it risked turning a technical accounting dispute into a public political fight. "This resolution was not just a simple commitment to renegotiation; it was a direct attempt to manufacture conflict between Bossier City and the Bossier Parish School Board," West Marriott said.

City staff responded that the item before the council was procedural: to give notice of the city’s intent to renegotiate the local services agreement so that the collector’s fee applied uniformly going forward. "That is the intent of the resolution," one staff speaker identified in the meeting as Mr. Jacobs said. "It is required by the existing local services agreement... it starts the 90 day clock." Jacobs added the city had held several meetings with school officials and that uniform treatment across political subdivisions is the goal.

Council members debated two related issues: whether to proceed now and whether the resolution’s explanatory paragraphs — which the public had described as accusatory — should remain in the document.…