The new year is only four days old, but Bossier Parish officials are already making plans for 2010 and reflecting on the past 12 months.

Bossier City Mayor Lorenz "Lo" Walker said 2009 was a solid year despite a grueling and turbulent last couple of months caused by a $6.5 million deficit in the city's 2010 general fund budget. "Our (change in the) policy decisions normally depending on the transfer of funds made the general fund budget an issue and then when you start having to lay off people, that brings in an emotional element to it," said Walker.

Judging from the results, it seems a lot of people went through the "window of opportunity" offered by the state's Tax Amnesty Program earlier this fall. The program that offered state tax payers owing delinquent taxes a chance to pay up without any penalties and only 50 percent of the interest totaled $457,318,689 as of Dec. 18. This almost three-times the $192.9 million collected in 2001 when the program was last utilized. It also far exceeded the $150 million expectations. "Collections in the 2009 Louisiana Tax A m n e s t y Program outpaced the 2001 program at every stage," said Cynthia Bridges, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Revenue. "This was a smashing, overwhelming success. Nobody had any idea," said Bossier City Rep. Jane Smith, who championed the bill in the Louisiana House. Gov. Bobby Jindal signed the bill in July 2009 creating the tax amnesty program. The program ran Sept. 1 through Oct. 31. Eligible tax payers included those who failed to report all income, file a tax return, pay full tax interest and penalties, those who claimed incorrect credits or deduction, those who misrepresented or omitted taxes due and those involved in an audit. Over 43,800 people completed amnesty applications. Of the $457 million collected, $34,934,329 was from individuals. New this time that was absent from the 2001 program was amnesty that was extended to businesses being audited by the Internal Revenue Service. Smith and Bridges believed this helped its success. The numbers seem to back this up. Over $422 million collected through the program was from businesses. Smith pointed out the promotion of the program also played into its success. "They traveled and talked about it. You had people knowing about it instead of calling in after the fact," she said. The department

been like stepping into a time machine for Louisiana Rep. Jane Smith as she was honored with "This Is Your Life" at BPCC. Hosted by the Norwela Council of Boy Scouts of America, the event is a fundraiser that also served to honor community leaders. Attendees raised over $13,000 for the council. "We've attempted to recognize leaders in our community. On behalf of the 5,000 families who enjoy boy scouting, we thank you," said Jerry Jones, president of the Norwela Council of Boy Scouts. Smith was the first woman to be receive the honor. Besides having her life's accomplishments listed, she was roasted by friends, family and peers.

Bossier Parish and Bossier City was officially awarded over $26 million in low-interest loans from the state Monday.

Hal Leggett, secretary of the Department of Environmental Quality, was on hand to issue three awards — to Bossier Parish, Bossier City and Benton — for sewer issues. Bossier Parish received $17.75 million for sewer treatment projects, Bossier City received $8.5 million for new headworks at the sewer treatment plant and Benton received $418,000 for water systems.

"This is a time to really be excited, both for the parish, and the city and the municipalities all across the area. We're glad to be involved in this huge step forward for Bossier Parish and Bossier City," said state Rep. Henry Burns.

The parish has been working on creating a new sewer system along the Highway 80 corridor and a treatment plant on the Red River for over six years.

"This has been a dream for six years. With this low interest loan, we're going to be taking care of a lot of people, we're going to be spreading out the growth of Bossier Parish, we're going to be improve the quality of life for residents and our streams," said Benton.

Bossier City Mayor Lorenz "Lo" Walker noted the city just passed a $125 million bond issue to work on water and sewer and catastrophe when the sewer treatment plant headworks collapsed and no funds were available to fix it.

"It's going to be a $14 million project and this money goes a long way towards helping us resolve this emergency," said Walker.

DEQ received $43 million for sewer works from federal stimulus package and out of that came $418,000 for the town of Benton.

"On behalf of Mayor (Albert) Doughty, I can tell you he's going to appreciate this until he comes asking for more," joked Parish Administrator Bill Altimus.

The funding was obtained through the work of the parish officials along with state Representative Jane Smith and Burns. Parish officials met with the state to inquire about funding during the past legislative session and Smith and Burns alerted them to money that would be available on a first come, first serve basis.

The two thanked each other, Smith saying Burns kept reminding her about the project and Burns saying Smith can get things done with her "leadership and seniority."

"When (Burns) explained it to me, I knew we couldn't piecemeal the project any longer, that we had to pursue this low interest money," said Smith.

"It takes a community to accomplish what you've done. A lot of times across the state I see communities fighting against each other and up here I see a common voice that we need to promote Bossier and Shreveport area and help it grow," said Leggett.

Smith thanked Gov. Bobby Jindal for his interest and involvement in northwest Louisiana.

"We're thrilled we have a governor who comes to this part of the state and we want to say thanks to him and we know he has an interest in this economic engine of the state," said Smith.

Leggett said he is on the same page with the governor when it comes to ideal of equality, helping the public and promoting Louisiana as well as having a growing economy that does not harm the environment.

"I understand what it takes to make a living and protect the environment and I've always believed that you can do both," said Leggett.

He said infrastructure is more than roads and highways, it is sewer treatment, or as he calls them, "poo-poo plants."

Rep. Smith & Cynthia Bridges

Cynthia Bridges, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Revenue, and Bossier City state Rep. Jane Smith unveiled the state's new tax amnesty program during a press conference at the Bossier Civic Center Thursday.

The program is a two-month opportunity for tax payers owing state taxes to seek relief from 100 percent of the penalties and fifty percent of the interest. It beings Sept. 1 and ends Oct. 31. All applications, tax forms and payments need to be postmarked by Oct. 31.

Eligible tax payers include those who failed to report all income, file a tax return, pay full tax interest and penalties, those who claimed incorrect credits or deduction, those who misrepresented or omitted taxes due and those involved in an audit.

Any tax payers currently involved in a criminal investigation or form of litigation are not eligible.

Amnesty is applied to all taxes administered and collected by the department on or after July 1, 2001 until Jan. 1, 2009.

Those wishing to apply for tax amnesty must file an amnesty application; file any returns or reports due; pay in-full taxes due, fees and fifty percent of the interest due.

Bridges is touring the state to spread the news about the program. This is the fifth tax amnesty program started by the state, the first since 2001.

The department's goal is to add new tax payers, get delinquent tax payers to bring their accounts up to date and expedite the process of audit and litigation. Based on precedent, they expect to collect $150 million.

There are 338,000 delinquent tax payers out of approximately 1.8 million tax payers who owe around $472 million. This money is only five percent of total revenue collected.

"It's a very small percentage of the amount we collect and each year we also collect that much in our pursuit of tax payers," said Bridges.

She said that this program will also help save money in their pursuit of delinquent tax payers.

"We feel this is money we would've collected anyway, but the program accelerates the receiving of those revenues and provides incentive for those who owe taxes," Bridges said.

Tax amnesty money will be put towards replenishing the $86 million taken from the rainy day fund to ease cuts in higher education. The rainy day fund is constitutionally protected in that only one-third of it can be used and a decrease in state revenue must be shown in order to use that. The legislature moved to only use one-third of the third available from the fund and that money will be repaid by the funds collected from the tax amnesty project.

"This is a win-win. It helps our colleges, our children, government programs and those who support us," said Bridges.

Dear Representative Jane Smith,

On behalf of the women leaders of America, it is our pleasure to invite you to join us at the inaugural National Women’s Leadership Summit (NWLS) as organized by the Louisiana Center for Women and Government. The summit has been established to strengthen women’s visibility and creditability as leaders, as well as to broaden influence in the public policy by facilitating a dialogue of women’s perspectives on policy important to all citizens.

U.S. Representative John Fleming has personally nominated you to be one of the select attendees at   NWLS. NWLS is scheduled to take place in New Orleans, Louisiana, September 24-26, 2009 for a 3 day summit focused on a particular topic: Energy and Environmental Issues. We have no doubt that your position of achievement brings relevance and timeliness in this discussion.

As you can see in the attached, we anticipate holding a Welcome Reception and opening keynote speaker on the evening of Thursday, September 24. A full day of presentations on Friday, September 25th will include a 40-person round table, breakout sessions led by prominent leaders in energy and environmental as well as keynote presentations. We would like the final day of the conference to culminate with a closing presentation by our event Honorary Co-Chairs, Senator Mary Landrieu and Senator Olympia Snowe. The Senators will review the results of the Summit discussions and incorporate in their presentation remarks regarding the future of energy and environmental policy.

As a model of leadership, your attendance would ensure that this vital convocation is firmly established as an effective means by which we support the growing prominence of women’s voices on key issues.

Sincerly,

Dr. Laura Badeaux & Norma Jane Sabiston