Lincoln Parish Sheriff Mike Stone wants the Lincoln Parish Police Jury (LPPJ) to donate to his office an 18 acre plot on Road Camp Road, where he wants to build a $5 million “public safety complex.”
The issue is to be discussed at a meeting of the jury’s Public Property & Buildings Committee, set for 5:00 PM, Monday, August 13, Lincoln parish courthouse, third floor.
Here is the agenda.
Here is the proposed cooperative endeavor agreement.
Some jurors are uncomfortable giving to the sheriff for free a plot of land that could be worth a couple of million dollars. See here earlier reporting:
Lincoln Parish Jurors Get Cold Feet on Land Donation to Sheriff Stone
Also, a million-dollar homeland security grant that would be used for construction of the complex may be flawed. The land was used as “matching funds” to obtain the grant, yet the sheriff did not have title to the land as was required by the grant terms. See here earlier reporting:
Also set to meet Monday are the Public Works and Personnel Committees, at 5:30 PM and 6:00 PM, respectively. Here are the agendas:
The personnel committee is likely to rubber-stamp reappointment of two serving commissioners to the Lincoln Parish Fire District Board of Commissioners, Mike Fulton and Ray Robinson, despite controversy over the fire chief’s exorbitant pay and declining fund reserves.
It is unclear what changed the jury’s mind since the June meeting where the two appointments were tabled.
The public works committee will consider creating a lighting district for the Tremont Subdivision, a practice that Ouachita parish has used in several areas.
Again note the Monday, 8/13 date for the committee meetings.
The full jury will meet Tuesday, August 14, 7:00 PM at the courthouse, third floor.
Here is the agenda.
Up for adoption are the property tax millages for tax year 2012. The rates are unchanged from the last few years, and with some existing property assessments down from four years ago, some residents may see a slight decrease in taxes.
Here is the ordinance.
Also, see the legal notice for the Property Assessment Board of Review.
08/13/2012 at 9:41 am |
The sheriff is growing his department too big by all his wants–taxes, free land..what next? I say NO. NO, to using this valuable land to increase a government entity. Make do with present facilities.
The land donation would be the first step in greater expenditures for buildings, equipment, personnel, more utilities, and on and on. NO stopping point once he gets his foot in the door. NO MORE TAXES for anything. We as a nation are facing a depression or complete collapse of our money system. The middle class is shrinking fast and dropping into the poverty class.
08/13/2012 at 11:45 am |
Stone arrogantly seems to feel this land already belongs to him and its the Jury’s duty to just hand it over. He even used this land as the qualifying basis for his federal homeland security grant despite the fact that it didn’t belong to the sheriff’s office. It is precisely this type of corner cutting that has gotten America into crippling debt and increased the burden on future generations. Cutting corners on grant applications leads one to begin rationalizing behavior until clearly illegal lines are crossed. It used to be that public officials were held to the highest standards to prevent even the appearance of impropriety. Now, they just cut corners until they’re caught. Louisiana has suffered from political corruption for far too long to let things like Stone’s flawed Homeland Security grant be swept under the rug. Appeasing him over this will only lead to more egregious violations of the public trust either by Stone himself or one of the many who follow in his footsteps. Either way, Stone is setting a lousy example as a law enforcement official. How many Louisiana sheriffs have recently been hauled off in handcuffs for abusing the public trust? Even Royce Toney over in neighboring Ouachita Parish just pled guilty to malfeasance. If we citizens don’t demand better respect from our elected officials, we’ll never get it. We’ll continue to get individuals who feel the ends justify the means, and who cut corners to get what they want.
08/13/2012 at 10:42 pm |
Looks to me like there is plenty of room at the detention center, he wants to run the DC so let him move there. Hang in there PJ.
I say the taxpayer needs something else to pay for and support right now, like a Titanic passenger needs an anvil.
The government is destroying the economy, therefore it is destroying the economy’s ability to pay for…government. We are all about to be profoundly broke and in distress like we have not known in generations. Government is broke now, and convering it up using borrowed money, which won’t hold out much longer.Many economists claim the economyis already collapsing, it’s happening in slow motio and not suddenly as they expect, like October, 1929, but it is happening.
People won’t believe it until it slaps them in their tired, hungry, frightened faces.
08/14/2012 at 6:35 am |
Good points, MrEd. Government is broke, but most of our elected officials don’t seem to grasp this point. They keep asking for more and borrowing to pay for it. Sadly, voters are letting them get away with this by refusing to vote. Only 18% of voters turned out to vote on Stone’s new PERMANENT sales tax. That’s less than 5000 votes in a Parish of 45,000! Not one damn resident of Lincoln Parish has a right to grumble about taxes if they didn’t get up off of their sorry arses and go vote against this tax!
Most people who’ve had to straighten out their finances can tell you that the good times look like they’ll go on forever as you run up first one credit card, then another until suddenly you can’t get another new one and the bills are due. You’re paying $50 here and $50 there until your entire check is used up making $50 minimum credit card payments that will go on forever. Same with bond issues and taxes. It’s just a little here and a little there until pretty soon, we’re talking about real money. And, if you lose you job or your hours are cut back, well then you’re in a world of hurt because your check isn’t big enough to make all of those payments. Same with government. When citizens are thrown out of work, they stop paying taxes and start collecting unemployment, or as my grandfather used to say, “They become a burden on the taxpayers.” Then government suddenly can’t make all of its payments and starts raising taxes which only makes the situation worse.
Government officials who love to spend want you to see this a s a series of little payments without totaling up the big picture. It’s easier for them to sell you their spending plan if its broken up in little chunks that look reasonable. It’s for the kids, or it’ll reduce crime. This is all bogus as our spending per pupil is some of the highest in the country and our crime is some of the lowest. The education spending is all going to support the teachers’ unions and the school board bureaucracy at the central office. All of this government borrowing and spending crowds out private capital that isn’t being invested in new businesses and new jobs, so when you lose your job, there’s nowhere else to get a new one. But hey, it’s only a little bit of your check. You’ve got enough to keep making all of those minimum payments – for now. And that rumor about layoffs at the plant, I’m sure it’s nothing but the usual scuttlebutt. Nothing to see here. Move along.
08/14/2012 at 9:13 am |
Committee deadlocked over the issue of either giving the sheriff the land outright, or accepting his proposal for a 50 year yease, so no committee recommendation to the full jury.
Oh, I forgot: it’s not on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting, either. Looks like the sheriff will have to wait a while…
08/14/2012 at 9:15 am |
Perhaps the Jury stumbled Monday night and happened to fall in the right direction…
08/14/2012 at 11:46 am |
Looks that way to me.
08/14/2012 at 1:50 pm |
You can rest assured that the direction they fell was not intentional. Before this is all over those voting will all sell out to the Sheriff.
08/15/2012 at 7:53 pm |
Ole Anon was right. A couple fought the good fight though. Soner or later you will stop giving your money to local (and state and federal) government.