St. Tammany Moving Toward Sales Tax To Fund Courts, Jail And Mandated Services

Parish leaders say a growing general fund shortfall is forcing a decision on how to pay for the criminal justice system and other state-required agencies. St. Tammany Parish officials are moving toward a sales tax as their preferred answer to a long-running funding problem affecting the parish jail, the 22nd Judicial District Court, the district attorney’s criminal division and other agencies the parish is required by state law to support.

The issue came into sharper focus this spring after the Louisiana Legislative Auditor found the parish’s general fund is structurally imbalanced. The audit said St. Tammany has been relying on non-recurring money to cover recurring costs and that state-mandated expenses consume the vast majority of the fund each year.

According to the parish and the auditor’s review, those mandated costs include support for the jail, district court, district attorney criminal prosecutions, the coroner, parts of the clerk of court’s operations, the assessor, the registrar of voters, justices of the peace and constables, the East St. Tammany city court, and Justice Center operations.

At an April 30 special meeting, parish officials and consultants laid out three possible ways to generate recurring revenue: a parishwide sales tax, a property tax or a franchise fee. The meeting agenda described the decision as a response to the general fund shortfall tied to those unfunded mandated agencies, including public safety agencies.

Parish records show the projected gap is about $16 million in 2027 and could grow to about $22 million in 2028 if no long-term revenue source is put in place. Officials have warned that continued cuts would hit the criminal justice system especially hard because so much of the general fund already goes to required services.

In recent presentations, parish leaders said a dedicated revenue stream is needed because most other parish funds are legally restricted and cannot simply be shifted into the general fund. That has left the council weighing which option would be the most sustainable and politically viable.

After reviewing the three approaches, the council voted to move forward with a sales tax option rather than a property tax or franchise fee. Television coverage of the meeting reported the proposal under consideration is a 0.3% parishwide sales tax that would be headed toward the November ballot, pending the remaining public process.

The debate is the latest chapter in a funding issue that has been building for years. Earlier tax structures that supported parts of the criminal justice system expired, and parish officials have argued that the loss of dedicated revenue has made it harder to keep pace with the cost of state-required operations.

The central question now is whether voters will accept a new tax to stabilize the system, or whether parish government will be forced to make deeper reductions to agencies that handle prosecutions, court operations and jail-related services.

Why This Matters In Slidell

For Slidell and East St. Tammany residents, the outcome could affect court operations, jail capacity, prosecutions and other public safety functions that serve the parish as a whole. Any parishwide tax measure would also directly affect households and businesses on the Northshore, including along major commercial corridors in and around Slidell.