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Mansfield mayor urges DeSoto Parish to prioritize municipal needs amid costly infrastructure repairs
Summary
Thomas Jones, mayor of Mansfield, asked the DeSoto Parish Police Jury to consider municipalities when allocating parish funds, citing millions in local sales tax contributions, urgent water and sewer pump replacements, and limited municipal revenue for fire and street maintenance.
Thomas Jones, the mayor of Mansfield, told the DeSoto Parish Police Jury Wednesday that Mansfield contributes a significant share of sales tax revenue and needs the parish’s help to address major infrastructure problems.
"When you tabulate the taxes that the Parish get from a city over a year's time it is over $2,000,000 right out of the city of Mansfield," Jones said, asking jurors to consider municipal needs when spreading parish dollars. He said the city has spent nearly $1,000,000 replacing failing pumps at its water intake and is pursuing grants and loan forgiveness programs to rebuild the tax base.
Jones asked the jury to continue and expand cooperative endeavor agreements and to recognize municipalities as part of the parish’s responsibility. Jurors and other attendees asked questions about the town’s tax structure and why Mansfield does not levy a separate fire tax; Jones said Mansfield relies primarily on sales tax revenue and pays salaries for police, fire and wastewater treatment staff from those funds.
A juror challenged Jones on a past decision concerning a pipeline and wastewater acceptance, asserting Mansfield opposed earlier plans to route landfill leachate to Mansfield’s treatment plant; Jones denied opposing the project and said he had not voted against it, noting the matter previously came before a committee and that state legislators also spoke against it at the time.
The mayor concluded by urging jurors to "change your mindset to stop separating the parish from a municipality" and to treat cities within the parish as part of the whole when budgeting.
The public-comment exchange occurred during the meeting’s comment period and produced follow-up discussion with jurors about grants, CEAs, and municipal eligibility for parish resources.
