Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson is asking voters to nearly double a millage to support the jail’s operation. We recommend that they say no, at least right now.
Hutson is seeking an additional 2.7 mills on top of the 2.8 that homeowners pay now. That would generate an additional $12.4 million annually for salaries, equipment and training — about the same amount that the City Council declined to provide her office late last year.
Hutson didn’t need to seek council approval to put the tax proposal on the ballot, so it never got a public airing at the local level. And, disappointingly, she has done little to publicize the ballot measure, explain why she needs extra money or outline how she’d spend it.
Instead, whether intentionally or not, the proposal comes off as an attempt to slip one past voters while they’re not paying attention. In a letter to council members, Hutson touted the April 29 election date, with early voting starting Saturday, as an uncrowded ballot. Yet with no major contests to draw voters to the polls — and an Election Day on the busy first weekend of Jazz Fest — it’s the polling places that are likely to be empty.
We don’t doubt that Hutson, a relative newcomer who inherited a federal consent decree due to the Orleans Justice Center’s constitutional shortcomings, could put additional revenue to use.
But taxpayers are stretched too. And New Orleans voters have proved discerning in recent years, rejecting some tax proposals but approving those for which officials convincingly explained that there were valid needs. Detailed spending plans helped those proposals to pass.
A loss on April 29 wouldn’t hamstring the sheriff’s office; the current millage doesn’t expire until 2025, which gives Hutson plenty of time to develop plans for a higher tax rate and try to sell it to voters.
The people who would be paying deserve no less before they decide whether to open their wallets.
Leave a Reply