Ouachita Parish Police Jury adopts adjusted millage rates and 2024 revenue levies

The Ouachita Parish Police Jury voted unanimously on Sept. 16 to adopt two ordinances that set the parish’s adjusted millage rates and the 2024 revenue levies following the most recent reappraisal.

Ordinance No. 9497, adopted after a public hearing with no speakers in opposition, sets the adjusted millage rates used to calculate ad valorem taxes across parish taxing purposes. Examples listed in the ordinance include General Alimony (outside municipalities) at 4.01 mills, Public Library at 7.42 mills, and Fire Protection District No. 1 at 18.55 mills. The roll call vote on Ordinance No. 9497 recorded six yeas, zero nays and zero abstentions.

Ordinance No. 9498, the 2024 revenue law, was adopted in the same session and specifies the parish’s 2024 levy amounts and certain district service charges and collection fees. The ordinance shows the 2024 levy figures that will be assessed when tax bills are prepared (for example, General Alimony outside 4.14 mills; Public Library 7.64 mills; Fire Protection District No. 1 19.11 mills). It also enumerates fixed charges by road-lighting district (amounts range by district, e.g., Road Lighting District No. 10 listed at $230.00 with a $11.50 collection charge). The roll call vote on Ordinance No. 9498 was recorded as six yeas, zero nays and zero abstentions.

The ordinances state that the Ouachita Parish Assessor will extend these levies on the 2024 assessment roll and that the tax collector will collect and remit the revenue in accordance with state law. Both measures were adopted after the required hearings and readings and were enacted during the Sept. 16 meeting. No public comments were recorded in favor of or opposed to the measures during the hearings.

What happens next: the Assessor will include the adjusted rates on the assessment roll for 2024 and the Tax Collector will collect the levies under existing law. The minutes record adoption on Sept. 16, 2024.