Voters reject tax proposal again

Voters reject Tangipahoa Sheriff’s tax
proposal again; analyst says post-election
message may have backfired
HAMMOND — For the second time this year,
Tangipahoa Parish voters rejected a sales tax that
Sheriff Gerald Sticker said was critical to boosting
staffing and wages inside the sheriff’s office.
Saturday’s proposal, a three-quarter-cent sales
tax that would have raised nearly $25 million a year
for the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office, failed
57% to 43%. That margin was even wider than the
perpetual tax increase voters turned down in March.
Election maps show support concentrated in the
parish’s two largest cities. The strongest “yes” votes
came from the Hammond and Ponchatoula areas,
while the most decisive opposition came from rural
communities, particularly north of Roseland and
southwest of Hammond.