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. After back-and-forth, Councilman Smith moved to remove all paragraphs other than the first three and the last two of the proposed resolution; the motion was seconded and the amendment carried. The amended resolution, as approved, affirms the city’s intent to renegotiate the agreement going forward but omits the contested background language.

Council members and staff also discussed, separately, an alleged past claim the school board made for an amount the board has described as roughly $1,400,000 to $1,500,000. Council members emphasized that any determination of past amounts owed requires an independent audit. "Until that is verified through an independent auditor, then that remains to be seen," a council member said during the discussion. City staff said they expect an independent audit to be scheduled "in the next couple of months," pending auditor availability.

The council asked staff and the mayor to set follow-up meetings with school-board representatives and to provide copies of relevant agreements and audit timelines to council members. The council adopted the amended resolution by vote; the motion to adopt carried.

Votes at a glance

- Adopted: Resolution providing notice of intent to renegotiate the joint sales-and-use tax collection agreement with the Bossier Parish School Board (resolution). Motion amended to remove contested background paragraphs; motion carries.

- Adopted (final reading): Ordinance appropriating $2,500,000 from the 2025 Emergency Medical Services capital fund to build a vehicle maintenance garage for the Bossier City Fire Department.

- Adopted (final reading): Ordinance authorizing Mayor Thomas H. Chandler to execute an agreement with Beast Engineering for design services for improvements to Benton Road (LA 3).

- Adopted (final reading): Ordinance authorizing Mayor Thomas H. Chandler to execute an agreement with Beast Engineering for design services for the 2025 citywide street improvements project.

- Adopted (final reading): Ordinance renewing the cooperative endeavor agreement with the Shreveport-Bossier Convention and Tourist Bureau to dedicate hotel/motel occupancy tax proceeds for operation and maintenance of the Bossier City Civic Center and for riverfront and downtown development.

- Adopted (final reading): Ordinance appropriating $595,816 from the 2018 LCDA bond fund to construct a shoot house and other improvements at the shooting range.

- Adopted (first and final reading, emergency): Ordinance declaring an emergency to replace two gravity sewer manholes and 190 linear feet of 42-inch inflow gravity main to the Northeast Wastewater Treatment Plant at a cost of $689,092.22 from the sewer capital and contingency fund.

- Adopted (first and final reading, emergency): Ordinance declaring an emergency to reroute and replace a collapsed gravity sewer system along Clovis Street at a cost of $395,020 from the sewer capital and contingency fund.

- Introduced (first reading): Amending ordinance No. 107 of 2023 to transfer surplus funding available for final design and completion of the LDEQ funding application for South Bossier Sewer Improvements.

- Introduced: Ordinance appropriating $400,000 for the Riverview Sewer Lift Station generator project (initially proposed from the Riverboat Gaming Capital Project Fund); council amended the funding mechanism and the motion to amend — moving the funding source to the sewer capital and contingency fund — carried before introduction.

- Introduced: Ordinance authorizing Mayor Thomas H. Chandler to execute an agreement with Lumen Technologies Group to upgrade existing circuits and increase bandwidth at the Public Works Complex; the ordinance limits the increase to no more than $2,100 per month over current service.

- Introduced: Ordinance authorizing a cooperative endeavor agreement between the City of Bossier City and the LSU AgCenter (first reading).

- Introduced: Ordinance to contract with Wagner Energy and Engineering for design services for Northgate Road streetscape improvements in conjunction with the LA DOTD Transportation Alternatives Program (first reading).

- Introduced: Ordinance to renovate City Hall council chambers (first reading).

- Adopted (first and final reading): Resolution authorizing the Police Department to temporarily increase the number of sergeant positions by one and decrease the number of police officer positions by one.

What happens next

The amended resolution starts the 90-day negotiation period required by the city’s local services agreement; council members asked staff to coordinate follow-up meetings with school-board representatives and to provide an independent-audit timeline to the council. For items introduced on first reading, staff will return the ordinances for later readings and final votes as required by the city’s rules.

Sources: transcript of the Bossier City Council meeting: public comment by West Marriott (Sova Life); remarks by city staff (identified in the transcript as Mr. Jacobs and other staff); council debate and recorded motions and votes.