Calcasieu sales tax revenue increases
Published 8:38 am Friday, July 8, 2016
<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Calcasieu Parish saw its sales tax revenue go up by $12.1 million in the 2015 fiscal year compared with the 2014 fiscal year, according to a financial report released Thursday.</span>
<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“(The increase) is good evidence of the beginning of a significant economic growth period for our parish,” according to the report, for the fiscal year that ended Dec. 31.</span>
<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The report showed a taxable sales increase of 13.8 percent in 2015, compared with 7.7 percent in 2014. District 5 Police Juror Nic Hunter said during the panel’s meeting that the increase was “pretty remarkable.”</span>
<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“We are seeing in the flesh today some of the benefits of what we have going on in this area,” he said.</span>
<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Tammy Bufkin, parish finance director, said the increase in sales tax revenue is largely because of construction starting on some of the high-dollar industrial projects. She said the parish can only spend the increased sales tax money on road and drainage improvements.</span>
<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Meanwhile, property tax revenue also saw an increase of $4.4 million from the 2014 and 2015 fiscal years.</span>
<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Total net assets in 2015 were $838 million, up from $789 million at the end of the 2014 fiscal year.</span>
<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The report said 64 percent of the parish’s net assets “represent the government’s investment in capital assets,” like land, infrastructure, machinery and equipment. An additional 25 percent is restricted to certain purposes because of sales or property taxes that voters approved. The remaining 11 percent is unrestricted and may be used for ongoing obligations.</span>
<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Bufkin said the parish being in sound financial position is important to get good interest rates. The parish plans to issue bond money to pay for $60 million in capital projects, including Family Court and Burton Coliseum.</span>
<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The first series of bonds should be issued this year, according to the report. Most of the funding will come from the parish borrowing money and paying it back with existing funding, including $42 million in gambling funds paid over seven years, along with part of the juvenile justice tax and the parish’s general fund over 15 years.</span>
<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The report also said there were 104,300 non-farm jobs last year in the Lake Charles Metropolitan Statistical Area. The area is expected to add 7,400 more jobs this year and 2,000 jobs in 2017, an increase of 8.9 percent.</span>
<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The parish received the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association of United States and Canada. This is the 24th consecutive year the parish has received the award for the financial report.</span>
<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The firm McElroy, Quirk and Birch performs the annual audit for the parish.</span>
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