The Coliseum

No, not the one in Rome, we've got one in Rapides Parish, a local venue owned by the parish governing board.  It needs an upgrade, badly.  So, the local governing body (we call them Police Jury) is trying to float a tax to get the Coliseum upgraded.

Voters will decide in November whether saving the nearly 50-year-old Rapides Coliseum in Alexandria is worth the price tag. Between now and Nov. 6, stakeholders in the facility plan to do everything they can to persuade them.

The upgrades and renovation are going to cost $23 million US dollars, and the Police Jury want to float a property tax to fund the renovation.

On the Nov. 6 ballot is a $23 million bond issue, backed by a 2.5-mill property tax, to fund the renovations and upgrades. Voters also are being asked to pass a 1-mill property tax to fund coliseum operations over the next 20 years.

So, if they get what they want, we property owners will fund the operation by a 3.5 mil property tax. And there's the rub.There are lots of folks who use the Coliseum who aren't property owners. I don't know what the percentage of property-owners vs non-property-owners might be, but I'm tired of paying property taxes to fund the folks whut don't own property.

It seems to me that the property owners are funding lots of stuff in this parish that the renters don't have to fund, yet the renters get to vote on it, just like they're someone.  Let everyone pay their fair share.  For myself, I'm voting against any taxes at all on the local ballot.  If the Coliseum needs an upgrade, then let it make its own money, pay its own way.  I'm recommending that everyone vote NO against any property tax.