Economic downturn weighs heavy on local governments

Government leaders from across St. Mary Parish gathered at The Forest Restaurant in Franklin Monday to discuss a topic that has been repeatedly making headlines, hear a report about sales tax revenues and messages from individuals who are trying to help stimulate the economy in the region.
And it was the economy that was the primary topic of discussion at the meeting. After a brief message from St. Mary Parish President David Hanagriff, Michele Picou of the parish Sales and Use Tax Department took to the podium to address the audience regarding the first quarter sales tax analysis, which indicated a significant drop in revenue.
According to information from her department, Picou reported tax collections as of January 2016 were the lowest they have been since January 2012. For the first quarter in 2015 encompassing January, February and March, total collections were $10,859,302. In the same time period in 2016, total collections were $9,450,624.
Broken down by community, the economic picture was just as bleak with every community showing a loss in the first quarter. Berwick was down from $124,287 in 2015 to $95,076 in 2016. Patterson was down from $77,950 to $68,367. Baldwin saw a drop from $35,501 to $31,020.
Franklin dipped from $151,799 in 2015 to $145,374 in 2016. Morgan City went from $648,256 down to $544,429. And finally, St. Mary Parish was down from $530,770 in the first quarter of 2015 to $500,390 in the same time period of 2016.
After the report from Picou, one of the guest speakers for the evening took to the podium to let the audience know what one organization was doing to try and stimulate the local economy.
Kevin Balenger with the South Central Planning and Development Commission (SCPDC) said one of the priorities of the organization was to help maintain and repair infrastructure in places such as St. Mary Parish as well as foster economic growth.
“We work in a variety of areas,” Balenger said. “We do a lot of transportation planning. We do a lot of community development. We are going to do a lot of good work for you. We also do a lot of information technology work. We also do economic development. We have a lot of money to lend. We want to make loans here. We can make loans to help businesses here to expand.”
According to their website, the SCPDC “is a diverse, ever-changing commission serving many different constituencies made specially for and by local governments in the South Central Region. We perform a variety of services to meet the ever-changing needs and challenges of its member governments. These services include long-range planning, state and federal liaison, current issues, membership services and services to business and citizens.”