Town Council Votes to Increase Taxes

The mayor and council members voted August 12, 2024, to increase taxes without further voter approval and adopted increased reassessments resulting in increased taxes to town property owners. The estimated amount of tax revenues to be collected in the next year from the increased millage is $285,271.12 and the amount of increase in taxes attributable to the millage increase is $24,839.92, according to the Town of Farmerville official records.
Some explain that this was merely the result of Assessor Lance Futch increasing the assessment value on property; but it is not entirely his doing because the mere fact that the governing authority voted to impose these higher taxes proves that whether to increase these taxes was entirely discretionary with the public officials – and they voted to increase the taxes.
Union Parish, within the town of Farmerville, has a maximum sales tax rate of 11.45% – one of the highest in the state and nation.
Union Parish’s millage rates are also among the highest in the state for rural parishes.
The town of Farmerville combined realty taxes on average are more than three times that of other towns in the parish and among the highest of rural towns in the state.
Questions continue about the use of sales tax funds. The largest single expenditure from the Sales Tax Account appears to be the quarter million-dollar payment to TTR, LLC, as addressed in recent issues of the Gazette. This was a real payment with real sales tax funds…yet the town continues to increase the tax burden on its poor hardworking citizens.
Despite the town ignoring the need for proper sanitation, recklessly, willfully and wantonly releasing inadequately treated sewage into the lake and failing to maintain proper water quality standards for its citizens and businesses, it seems more focused on spending the towns resources on unneeded extravagant visions benefitting a select few as opposed to doing the necessary and needed work of proper sanitation and water quality.