I have kept my timeline relatively free of politics recently, but Ive heard a lot of questions about the proposed amendments to be voted on this cycle. This is from the Orleans LP... Aside from our obvious picks in the federal elections for Senate (Brannon McMorris) and congressional districts 1 and 2 (Jeff Sanford and Samuel Davenport, respectively) The Orleans Parish Executive Committee has prepared a guide to assist with choices for the amendments. Statewide amendments: Proposed Amendment No. 1 Do you support an amendment to authorize the legislature to create the Louisiana Medical Assistance Trust Fund, for the payment of Medicaid reimbursement to the health care provider groups paying fees into the fund? (Adds Article VII, Section 10.14) >>Suggested vote is NO, do not increase government spending and bureaucracy for healthcare. Proposed Amendment No. 2 Do you support an amendment to create the Hospital Stabilization Fund to stabilize and protect Medicaid reimbursements for health care services by depositing assessments paid by hospitals, as authorized by the legislature, into a fund to support Louisiana hospital reimbursement? (Adds Article VII, Section 10.13) >>Suggested vote is NO, this is still distortion of the healthcare market. Proposed Amendment No. 3 Do you support an amendment allowing an authorized agent of a tax collector to assist in the tax sale process, including the sale of property for delinquent taxes and that the fee charged by the authorized agent be included within the costs that the collector can recover in the tax sale? (Amends Article VII, Section 25(A)(1) and (E)) >>Suggested vote is NO. If we are against taxes in general, why allow an extra charge for a facilitator to a sale we find coercive in the first place? Proposed Amendment No. 4 Do you support an amendment to authorize the investment of public funds to capitalize a state infrastructure bank and the loan, pledge, guarantee, or donation of public funds by a state infrastructure bank for eligible transportation projects? (Amends Article VII, Section 14(B)) >>Suggested vote is NO, this should be accomplished by the free market. All this does is increase costs by ensuring that more funds will be siphoned off of the existing gas tax. Proposed Amendment No. 5 Do you support an amendment to remove the constitutional requirement that a judge retire upon attaining the age of seventy or, if his seventieth birthday occurs during his term, that he retire upon completion of that term? (Amends Article V, Section 23) >>Suggested vote is YES. Unless and until someone has been proven incompetent, malfeasant or otherwise unfit for service in an office they should be allowed to serve at the pleasure of their constituents. Proposed Amendment No. 6 Do you support an amendment to authorize the governing authority of Orleans Parish to increase the annual millage rate levied for fire and police protection, to require that the revenue from the fire and police millages be used for fire and police protection service enhancements, and to require that any increase be approved by the voters of Orleans Parish? (Amends Article VI, Section 26(E)) >>Suggested vote is NO. We are already paying enough taxes for poor return on investment. This is good money after bad. Proposed Amendment No. 7 Do you support an amendment to provide that the homesteads of veterans with a service-connected disability rating of one hundred percent unemployability or totally disabled by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, and their surviving spouses, shall be exempt from ad valorem taxation for up to one hundred fifty thousand dollars, and that a parishwide vote shall not be required to implement this change in qualification for the exemption? (Amends Article VII, Section 21(K)(1) and (3)) >>Suggested vote is YES, and we should continue to work to reduce the tax load for all other citizens. We should also be pressure our government not to create any more disabled vets. Proposed Amendment No. 8 Do you support an amendment to establish the Artificial Reef Development Fund in the state treasury by depositing in to the fund monies that have been received by the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries in the form of grants, donations, or other assistance to provide funding for programs dedicated to managing an artificial reef system, the wild seafood certification program, and inshore fisheries habitat enhancement projects? (Adds Article VII, Section 10.11) >>Suggested vote NO. This is not an appropriate activity for government. Proposed Amendment No. 9 Do you support an amendment to exclude owners who are permanently totally disabled from the requirement that they annually certify to the assessor the amount of their adjusted gross income in order to receive the Special Assessment Level on their residences for property tax purposes? (Amends Article VII, Section 18(G)(1)(a)(iv)) >>Suggested vote is NO, there is no actual tax break here. Proposed Amendment No. 10 Do you support an amendment providing for an eighteen-month redemption period in any parish other than Orleans, for vacant property sold at tax sale which is blighted or abandoned? (Effective January 1, 2015) (Adds Article VII, Section 25(B)(3)) >>Suggested vote is NO. Why is Orleans excluded? If this amendment were effective, it would be effective throughout the state. Properties considered blighted or abandoned should not be seized by parish or state government unless it is a direct threat to the health, safety, or property of its neighbors and an owner, heir, or lien holder will not accept responsibility. Proposed Amendment No. 11 Do you support an amendment to change the maximum number of departments in the executive branch of state government from twenty to twenty-one? (Amends Article IV, Section 1(B)) >>Suggested vote is NO, unless that new department is to be a “Getting Rid of Other Departments Department Proposed Amendment No. 12 Do you support an amendment to require that two members of the Wildlife and Fisheries Commission be electors from parishes located north of the parishes of Beauregard, Allen, Evangeline, Avoyelles, and Pointe Coupee? (Amends Article IX, Section 7(A)) >>Suggested vote is YES. If we must tolerate a bureaucracy, there should be equal representation throughout the state. Proposed Amendment No. 13 Do you support an amendment to authorize the governing authority of the city of New Orleans to sell at a price fixed by the legislature property located in the Lower Ninth Ward of the city of New Orleans? (Amends Article VII, Section (14)(B)) >>Suggested vote is NO. These properties should be placed for sale and let the market determine the price. Proposed Amendment No. 14 Do you support an amendment to provide that legislation relative to tax rebates, tax incentives, and tax abatements may not be introduced or considered by the legislature in a regular session held in an even-numbered year? (Amends Article III, Section 2(A)(3)(b) and (4)(b)(introductory paragraph)) >>Suggested vote is YES. This will prevent rapid fire changes to the state’s ability to snatch your money and force them to do more with less. Orleans Parish amendments: PW Law Enf. Dist. – 2.9 Mills – Sheriff – 10 Yrs. Shall the Law Enforcement District of the Parish of Orleans, State of Louisiana (the “District”), levy a special tax of not exceeding 2.9 mills on all property subject to taxation in the District (an estimated $9,073,000 reasonably expected at this time to be collected from the levy of the tax for an entire year), for a period of 10 years, beginning with the year 2015 and ending with the year 2024, with said millage levied each year to be reduced by the millage rate levied that year for the District’s currently outstanding General Obligation Bonds, for the purpose of providing additional funding for the District and the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office, including the operation, maintenance and upkeep of jails and related facilities? >>Suggested vote is NO. We should not be increasing taxes, New Orleans law enforcement agencies need to learn to be more effective within their current budgets. They got themselves into this consent decree, and allowing them to raid the till for more tax money to cover the problem will only increase the likelihood of a repeat performance down the road. PW HRC Amendment Sec. 3 (Inauguration Dates for Mayor and City Council) Shall City Charter Sections 3-102 and 4-201 be amended, effective June 1, 2018, to read as follows: Section 3-102. Number and Terms of Councilmembers. The Council shall consist of seven members, of whom five shall be elected from districts, one from the City at-Large as Councilmember-at-Large, Division 1 and one from the City at-Large as Councilmember-at-Large, Division 2, each to be voted on as separate offices. The terms of councilmembers shall be four years beginning the second Monday in January next following their election except that a councilmember elected to fill a vacancy shall serve only for the remainder of the unexpired term. The two Councilmember-at-Large offices shall not be considered to be new or different offices for purposes of Section 3-105(3) herein. Section 4-201. Election and Term. The electors of the City shall elect a Mayor at an election to be held in accordance with the election laws of the State. The Mayor shall take office on the second Monday in January and every four years thereafter following election. A person who has served as Mayor for more than one and one-half terms in two consecutive terms shall not be eligible for election as Mayor for the succeeding term >>Suggested vote is YES. Let’s streamline the election process. PW HRC Amendment Sec. 6 (Contracts to Which City is a Party) Shall Sections 6-308(1) and 6-308(5)(b) of the Home Rule Charter of the City of New Orleans relative to written contracts to which the City is a party be amended, effective January 1, 2015: (1) to require that the executive branch competitive selection process for professional services contracts involve a selection committee, composed of at least three (3) individuals from local government except the Mayor, possessing relevant subject matter expertise, to review and evaluate proposals and make selections in meetings noticed and open to the public, and that the committees records shall be public; (2) to allow the Mayor to authorize, by executive order, exceptions to such competitive selection process resulting from emergencies that pose a threat to public health, safety, and welfare, as authorized by law; (3) to require that the City establish and maintain a program to encourage disadvantaged business enterprises to participate in City contracts; and (4) to allow, with the Mayors authorization, the Chief Administrative Officer instead of the Director of Finance to sign such contracts on the Citys behalf? >>Suggested vote is NO. While all contracts negotiated by the city on the behalf of taxpayers should be public record, and should not fall into the hands of a single person, allowing the mayor discretion to void this amendment at will voids the entire purpose of having a check on single prerogative. The amendment as written would also allow for such contracts to be funneled into preferred “disadvantaged” business creating a crony system of protectionism in the awarding of contracts.
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 17:10:40 +0000
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