Patterson council supports constitutional amendments

Council members are supporting two state constitutional amendments concerning property tax issues.
At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, the council approved a resolution of support for state Constitutional Amendment 10, which would cut the three-year redemption period to pay property taxes down to 18 months for blighted or abandoned properties in order to get a tax purchase of properties more quickly, City Attorney Russell Cremaldi said. Shortening the redemption period would give municipalities an incentive to go ahead and clean up blighted or abandoned properties, he said.
The council approved a resolution of support for state Constitutional Amendment 3, which would allow municipalities the right to hire an outside contractor to handle the notice and collection of property taxes, Cremaldi said.
The council approved an ordinance abandoning utility servitude affecting all lots on block five of the Sugar Ridge Subdivision. The servitude runs across the rear of the lots and there is no public use for it because all utilities are carried along the streets, Cremaldi said.
Also at the meeting, Patterson Police Chief Patrick LaSalle questioned why police department pay raises, which the chief said had been approved by the mayor, have not yet been awarded, he said.
Mayor Rodney Grogan was not present at the meeting, and Cremaldi said council members would be happy to look into the matter. LaSalle said he would like the council and mayor to review creating a 96-hour pay period to replace the 86-hour pay period that gives an unfair overtime payment to police officers. LaSalle requested full disclosure of how the city has used the St. Mary Parish law enforcement tax since the tax was instituted, he said.
City Engineer Clay Breaud said he is still waiting for comments from the U.S. Department of Agriculture about rebidding of the city’s water plant project to reduce the cost.
At August’s council meeting, Grogan said the lowest of the two bids the city received was $10.1 million, well above the $8.1 million the city had budgeted for the construction of a state-of-the-art plan. By removing some “bells and whistles” that could be added at a later date, Grogan hoped to lower the cost by about $1.5 million, he said at the council meeting.
Regarding the Martin Luther King Sewer Rehabilitation project, Breaud said the sewers and water lines have been installed.
The Willow Street Sewer project was awarded to Byron E. Talbot Contractors and a preconstruction meeting will be held next week, Breaud said.
In other business, the council amended the agenda and gave approval for the subdivision of lots on Tiffany and Camille drives.