Property owners in St. Tammany Parish can breathe a little easier when their tax bills come in next month. The Parish Council agreed Thursday to roll back its property millage.

Many homeowners were shocked last month when they received their property assessments and saw how much they had increased. The unanimous vote means there will be some tax relief for parish homeowners. Taxpayers in unincorporated St. Tammany will see their property tax bill decrease from 21.26 mills to 18.03 mills, while homeowners in the parish’s municipalities will get a 2.94 reduction from 19.46 mills to 16.52 mills.

The council’s vote, however only affects certain parts of parish government — the council, general government, STARC, Council on Aging, Coroner’s Office, drainage, public health and animal control. Councilman Steve Stefancik explained the roll back is a means to keep the tax bills the same as last year’s. Every four years, the assessor must do a reassessment of property in the parish and come out with a new millage rate.

“So we adjust the millage rate with the new assessment to match last year’s rate,” Stefancik said.

For example, if a house is assessed at $100,000 in 2004, the rate would be 100 mills.

If the assessment of the house goes up to $200,000 in 2008, the roll back means the homeowner would pay 50 mills to keep it equal with the last tax bill.

Stefancik said the parish only gets $3 million from the millage rate.

The majority of the government’s revenue comes from building permit fees and grants. However, building in the parish has slowed down, and Stefancik expects revenue to go down.

“There is going to be some belt tightening here,” he said.

Property taxes also pay for fire protection, law enforcement and public education, which uses 51 percent of property taxes to function. Fire protection has the next biggest share at 19 percent, and law enforcement gets 8 percent. The parish’s municipalities also have to vote on whether or not to roll back the millage rate.

After the vote, both Stefancik and Councilman Ken Burkhalter expressed hope the other agencies will follow suit and roll back their millages to give taxpayers a break.

The St. Tammany School Board agreed to roll back the rate back in August, and the Library Board last month agreed to do whatever the Parish Council decided to do.

Councilman Gene Bellisario said Fire District 1, which covers most of Slidell, is meeting at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 13 to discuss rolling its millage rate up. He urged citizens to attend and voice their protest over the increase.

State Rep. Tim Burns, who was at the meeting, has protested the latest property assessments but thanked the council on the roll back.

“Even if the assessment goes up, a roll back means there won’t be such a steep increase in the property tax,” Burns said.