ARCADIA, La. (AP) - Three Bienville Parish municipalities are collecting sales taxes illegally.
In recent days, officials learned the voter-approved authorizations for one-cent sales taxes collected in the municipalities of Arcadia, Gibsland and Castor have expired. And in some cases, long expired.
In Gisbland, the penny sales tax should have ended in 1996. In Castor, 1998. Arcadia's was more recent, expiring on June 30.
Jarvis Osborne, Bienville Parish Sales and Use Tax Commission board president and school board business manager, told The Times (http://bit.ly/NBXTye ) all three will have to stop collecting their taxes Oct. 1.
Collections can resume only after voters give approval to renewals. The earliest date for an election is Dec. 8.
The oversight was discovered as a result of the ongoing criminal investigation in Gibsland. Representatives of the state legislative auditor's office have been in and out of Town Hall over the past few months as questions have been raised about the mayor's actions and spending practices.
"We realized it with the audit going on. It was brought to our attention last week," Osborne said of Gibsland's sales tax expiration.
Gibsland collects another penny sales tax legally. It and the expired tax generated $82,639 in 2011, Osborne said. So the town could lose at least $40,000 in revenue if voters nix the renewal.
The governing bodies in Arcadia, Gibsland and Castor held special meetings Tuesday to take the steps necessary to call renewal elections. Wednesday was the deadline to get the requests to the state bond commission for consideration at its October meeting, said Arcadia Mayor Eugene Smith, who is personally delivering documents to the commission in Baton Rouge.
Smith said he was unaware his town's tax had expired. Arcadia relies upon the School Board, which acts as the parish's tax collecting agency, to advise when taxes are nearing expiration. "And they didn't tell us. . They have some fiduciary responsibility, too."
Meanwhile, the town can take money from reserves to cover any shortages from the expired sales tax. It generates about $1.3 million annually for town services.
The Bienville Police Jury is unaffected by the oversight. A penny sales tax dedicated to waste collection and roads is up-to-date, Secretary Rodney Warren said. Still, Warren, who also sits on the sales and use tax commission board, said the news prompted him to double-check his records and produce the authorization documents supporting the tax.
"I don't believe there was any willful neglect on anyone's part," Warren said.