St. Tammany News

Residents in the Folsom area will be asked to approve a property tax millage dedicated to the operations of Fire District 5 on March 27.

The 19.68 mills needed to supply 63 percent of St. Tammany Fire District 5 in Folsom’s budget expired at the end of last year. It brought in approximately $420,000 of the total $600,000 annual budget for the department. When the fire board realized the millage was up for renewal last year it was too late to place it on a regularly scheduled election.

The state bond commission defeated a request to hold a special election the day after Christmas to renew the millage by a vote of 8-5, which fell short of the majority needed to pass the request. Costs to hold the election and the logistics of an election on Dec. 26 were contributing factors in the denial.

Without the renewal, the millage expired and forced the district to go a year without this money.

This shortfall has caused the district to drastically cutback, but thanks to some forethought after Hurricane Katrina it has remained afloat.

Capt. Paul Mieding with District 5 said following Hurricane Katrina, when the area experienced a surge in income, the board opted to place some of that into savings. The district has dipped into that savings this year.

The biggest cutback was the closing of the districts secondary manned station.

District 5 was operating with two manned stations. The main station on Louisiana Highway 25 is manned by the chief, three full-time employees who work rotating 12-hour shifts and a host of volunteers.

The second station was located Louisiana Highway 1077 and was manned by part-time employees.

That station was shut down and the employees who manned it were laid off.

The department also has two unmanned stations.

Mieding said if the millage is renewed the second station will reopen, but he added, that might actually happen sooner than that.

He said the board will revisit the budget in June and if money is available, it will reopen the second station July 1.

Even if the millage request is approved on March 27, which was the first available election date to place the item on the ballot, the district will not began receiving the money until 2011.