Commissioner Says Parish Should Stop Hoarding Tax Dollars

Caddo Parish Commissioner Steven Jackson is one voice of 12 on the parish governing body, but he is making waves with a comment he posted on Facebook this week. Jackson says it is time for all of our local leaders to come together and do what is in the best interest of our community.

He is referring to the millions and millions of dollars Shreveport and Caddo Parish will be getting from the feds. He says:

With $80 million between city and parish governments from The American Rescue Plan, if our community is the same after the money is spent, we have no one to blame but ourselves. I am apart the “we” that I speak of.

But Jackson also tells me Caddo Parish is rolling in money and leaders need to use that money to make improvements to our community. He says hoarding the cash is not solving any of our problems. He says the latest budget numbers show there's nearly $6 million in the detention facility reserve fund, $8.5 million in building maintenance reserves, $20 million in solid waste reserves and more than $18 million in the public works reserve fund. He says the parish could use these dollars to make an immediate impact on problems in Shreveport and Caddo Parish.

KEEL News caught up with Jackson to dive a little deeper into this conversation.

Caddo Parish government is in line to get more than $46 million. The City of Shreveport is also expecting another $48 million. And Jackson says the Caddo Parish School Board will be on the receiving end of millions, as well. Jackson does applaud the city of Shreveport for going out and listen to the citizens to hear what the priorities should be for spending this money.

We should prioritize small and emerging businesses. But he also says we should invest more money in community oriented policing. He says local leaders should also look at investing in infrastructure capacity building so we are ready to proceed when opportunities come.

Jackson says we could have a city where people would not be afraid to live in our neighborhoods and they would no longer leave the city for outlying areas.

He is also suggesting finding solutions to build our work force capacity.

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Filed Under: Caddo Parish, Shreveport

Categories: Morning Show, Robert and Erin, Shreveport/Bossier City News