By Heather Regan White
hwhite@americanpress.com
Lake Area Industry Alliance Executive Director Larry DeRoussel said 17 of the 20 top taxpayers in Calcasieu Parish are industries.
During Wednesday’s launch of the group’s Industry Impact campaign DeRoussel spoke of the quality-of-life benefits Calcasieu residents enjoy as a result of a thriving industrial sector.
According to the Calcasieu Parish School Board, local industry has paid $334 million in state taxes and $270 million in property taxes since 2014.
These taxes pay the salaries and benefits of one in three Calcasieu Parish teachers and allow for investments like the $50 million in capital projects undertaken by the CPSB in 2015, which included classroom pods and drainage improvements.
The Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office is in the midst of a $15.1 million upgrade, with the complete renovation of their West Calcasieu Law Enforcement Center, which hasn’t seen an upgrade in the past 30 years. The CPSO has also been able to purchase six high-water vehicles. DeRoussel said these were used on 20 calls for assistance after the recent heavy rainfall.
The Calcasieu Parish Police Jury has $14 million budgeted for drainage projects and $43.1 million for road projects this year.
At McNeese State University, local industries have contributed a total of $5.8 million in donations to the McNeese Foundation and funded 11 endowed professorships and 10 endowed scholarships.
At Sowela Technical Community College, industry donations total $1.1 million in equipment and programs, $245,000 in in-kind donations, like the steel used in welding courses; $1.5 in capital projects and $200,000 in scholarships.
Since 2014, local industry has donated a combined $30 million to area organizations, DeRoussel said.
Citgo funds the Innovation Academy at both E.K. Key Elementary and LeBlanc Middle School in Sulphur. Recently, Phillips 66 donated $60,000 to the local Boy Scouts. Over the past five years, local industry and their employees have donated $13.5 million to the United Way of Southwest Louisiana.
DeRoussel said every plant in the parish partners with at least one school. They not only provide monetary support, they lend their subject-matter experts to the schools to enhance their education and teach real-world application of lessons being learned.
Local industry employees have given a total of 80,000 hours of their personal time by volunteering for events like the annual Chem Expo, in which 2,500 parish seventhgraders watch scientists perform experiments.
DeRoussel said at a paint recycling event last weekend, 1,310 gallons of paint were taken from residents. The paint is mixed in five-gallon buckets and donated to organizations like the Salvation Army. In the past five years, 5,400 gallons of paint have been recycled. Other organizations that benefit from industry volunteers are the Special Olympics and Little League sports.