St. John the Baptist Parish has received $10 million from an oil company that is its largest taxpayer and expects to receive another $10 million next month as the company makes payments on a higher tax bill, the Associated Press reports.
The petroleum company is slated to pay $44 million more in taxes to the parish in 2020 compared to this year. It’ll owe about $60 million to the parish altogether, up from about $16 million. The increase comes as about $3 billion in industrial tax breaks are set to expire, according to the newspaper.
The parish government, sheriff’s office and public school district will split the funds.
Changes to Louisiana’s Industrial Tax Exemption Program allow localities to vote on whether to allow tax exemptions. The St. John the Baptist Parish Council and public school board last month rejected a request from Marathon to exempt $25 million in already-completed work from property taxes, the newspaper reported. The sheriff’s office signed off on the request.
Marathon operates a refinery in Garyville that employs more than 900 full-time workers and thousands more contractors.
