Robert Morris, Uptown Messenger file photo
(Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com archive)
The Touro-Bouligny Security District received overwhelming support Saturday, when 91 percent of voters within the security district pressed “yes” to continue the paying the additional millage for the next eight years.
The ballot containing two runoff contests and a city referendum drew only about 14 percent of voters citywide, but 21 percent of voters in the 10 precincts making up the Touro-Bouligny Security District showed up to vote, despite the rain. Of those voters, 385 chose to continue the additional property tax and 37 wanted to end it.
The 16 2/10 millage, expected to bring in $470,000 annually, provides services that include a 24/7 security patrol plus house checks, mail pick up, and escorts when requested, the district’s website states.
The Touro-Bouligny Security District board has also installed 30 security cameras in the neighborhood, placed at intersections to capture the activity on the street.
The Touro-Bouligny Security District, formed in 2007, includes about 70 blocks between St. Charles Avenue and Magazine Street and between Napoleon and Louisiana avenues.
It is governed by a nine-member board consisting of the neighborhood association president and four association appointees, plus representatives of the mayor and local City Council member, state representative and state senator.
The renewed millage, which will take effect Jan. 1 and end Dec. 31, 2026, will be “used exclusively to promote and encourage security in the District,” according to the ballot measure. The district contracts Metro Security for the 24-hour security patrols, alarm response, property checks and escorts.
Saturday’s election also retained Kyle Ardoin, a Republican, as secretary of state. Ardoin, who took office in May when Tom Schedler resigned, easily defeated Democratic challenger Gwen Collins-Greenup. Orleans Parish voters backed Collins-Greenup by more than 4 to 1.
A runoff for the District E seat on the Orleans Parish Civil District Court put defense lawyer Omar Mason on the bench. He defeated fellow Democrat Marie Williams.
Voters also agreed Saturday to alter the makeup of the Sewerage & Water Board, with 65 percent of voters agreeing to partially reverse changes to the Home Rule Charter enacted in 2013. The referendum removes one of the citizen members appointed by the mayor and provides a seat for the City Council’s Public Works Committee chair, a member of the committee appointed by the chair or a civil engineer appointed by the chair.
For details of Saturday’s election, visit the secretary of state’s website.
