Press Release
May 19, 2017
Contact: Liz Swaine, Executive Director
Downtown Development Authority
318-222-7403
Downtown Development Authority Asks City to Roll Forward Downtown Millage
Yes, this is confusing, and it is almost impossible to condense it into an elevator speech, but the DDA is asking the City of Shreveport to roll forward the millage rate to where we used to be; 8.64 mills. At some point, we were rolled back to 8.55 mills, which impacted our budget by close to $15,000. In the world of big government and business, that is not a lot, but to US, it’s 45 new downtown trees, half a new lift to hang banners on poles (we NEED a new lift), one/third a new street sweeper to stay on top of the mountain of garbage that seems to be generated daily (we are in the process of buying a new sweeper now). All that said, $15,000 means a lot to us and to our mission to make downtown fabulous. For some reason, the roll forward will mean a budget replenishment of only $8000 and we’re trying to figure out why that is. We’ll have to get back to you on that one.
There is a bunch of information that we must share by law, so here it is:
The City Council of the City of Shreveport intends to consider rolling forward millage rates, for the Shreveport Downtown Development Authority, from 8.550 mills to 8.640 mills.
Following is the longest sentence in history, also required by law-
Notice is hereby given pursuant to Article 7, Section 23(C) of the Louisiana Constitution and R.S. 47:1705(B) that a public hearing of the City Council of the City of Shreveport, Louisiana will be held at its regular meeting place in Government Chambers in Government Plaza located at 505 Travis Street, Shreveport, LA 71101 on Tuesday, May 23, 2017 at 3:00 p.m. to consider levying additional or increased millage rates without further voter approval or adopting the adjusted millage rates after reassessment and rolling forward to rates not to exceed the prior year’s maximum on all property subject to ad valorem taxation within the bounds of the Shreveport Downtown Development District, as defined by La. R.S. 33:2740.38. The estimated amount of tax revenues to be collected in the next year from the increased millage is $776,747.08, and the estimated amount of increase in taxes attributable to the millage increase is $8,091.08.
Sorry about all the Legalese, but it is required so that we do not go to jail and we would prefer to skip that experience. We are trying really hard to make our historic downtown the place we all know it can be and want it to be, and we sincerely appreciate all the support that we receive. We do not take that support, or the tax dollars that fund our mission, lightly.
For more information on the millage, please go to: www.downtownshreveport.com. For technical questions on the how and why, please contact the Caddo Parish Tax Assessor’s Office.
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