School board deadlocks on recommendation to forfeit Gator Mill Works' tax exemption benefits
Loading...
Summary
The Livingston Parish School Board split 4–4 on a resolution seeking to forfeit years of industrial tax‑exemption benefits for Gator Mill Works after an extended discussion about timing, hiring and impacts of COVID and local floods. The motion did not carry, and staff noted the Commerce and Industry Board previously declined the parish's penalty.
The Livingston Parish School Board on Nov. 6, 2025, failed to adopt a resolution recommending that Gator Mill Works forfeit one year of industrial tax‑exemption benefits for each year the company did not meet its contract terms, after a 4–4 roll‑call vote left the measure without the majority needed to carry.
Melody Lockwood of the Livingston Economic Development Council told the board the company's noncompliance stemmed largely from timing and external disruptions, including floods, a statewide moratorium on new construction and the COVID‑19 pandemic that interrupted hiring and payroll calculations tied to the Louisiana Industrial Tax Exemption Program (ITEP). Lockwood said the ITEP contract required certification of five new jobs and an annual payroll of at least $250,000 per project year, and that the program's rules did not allow prorating or averaging of payroll when hires occurred midyear.
"The rules just did not provide for that," Lockwood said, describing how the company fell into the worst timing window of multiple rule and administrative changes.
Board members questioned whether the parish's recommended penalty last year had been applied; Lockwood and a company representative, identified in the meeting as Chad Foster of Gator Mill Works, said the Commerce and Industry Board declined to adopt the parish's recommended sanction. Foster provided a company document showing local sales‑tax payments higher than originally projected; Lockwood noted the parish now has five active ITEP contracts across different industries and cautioned on conservative projections for future contracts.
Board member Jeff Cox moved to adopt the resolution finding Gator Mill Works noncompliant and recommending forfeiture of benefits; Ron McMorris seconded. Miss Tina conducted a roll‑call vote that produced four yes votes and four no votes, and the chair declared the motion did not carry.
Board discussion before and after the vote stressed competing responsibilities: several members acknowledged the company's local tax contributions and investments in equipment while others emphasized the board's role in holding contract compliance to safeguard ad‑valorem tax revenues used for schools. Lockwood told the board the council had recommended forfeiture in prior deliberations and that the council previously advanced a penalty that the Commerce and Industry Board did not impose.
After the vote, staff noted the reporting deadline to the Louisiana Department of Economic Development and the Board of Commerce and Industry was Nov. 16 and suggested the board could call a special meeting before that date if it wanted to revisit or amend its action. No special meeting was scheduled during the Nov. 6 session.
The board’s split vote leaves the parish without a formal recommendation to pursue forfeiture at the state level based on the ITEP documentation presented at this meeting.
