“The action taken by the Evangeline Parish Library Board of Control at their special meeting on November 15^th in reply to an appeal from the Evangeline Parish Police Jury for assistance in acquiring a new jail resulted in the following: The Library Board in regard to Police Jury Proposition No. 1, Library Tax Millage Rededication Proposition, hereby takes no opinion on the merits of or necessity for this proposition but does hereby vote to approve the placing of this proposition before the voters of Evangeline Parish for their decision in March 2022.” This action does acknowledge that the budget for the library will be adversely affected.

EVANGELINE PARISH, La. (KLFY)- The Evangeline Parish Police Jury is exploring all options and a few proposals on allotting funds for a new jail. 

Library Outreach Coordinator Suzy Lemoine says, “We are all working together to help achieve this.”

One proposition calls for a library tax millage rededication.

“The main library and its five branches will continue to be operational. Some funds will stay parked and not be affected,” Lemoine explains.

The library currently levies a 5.3 tax millage.

If the rededication passes, .62 of that tax millage will go towards the new jail.

Lemoine continues, “The police jury considered everything. They asked the library for funds but not enough to hurt us. The library will operate like it always has been.”

In 2020, collections for the library were over one million dollars.

If the proposition passes, the library would retain over 900 thousand dollars and over 125 thousand dollars would be rededicated to the jail.

Lemoine adds, “It does not impact the budget. It represents money put aside for 10 years to pay off a debt when we built this new library.”

Election Day is scheduled for March 26, 2022.