Haynesville Shale activity boosts DeSoto towns' coffers
By Vickie Welborn • vwelborn@gannett.com • July 19, 2009


Keatchie and history are synonymous. The small town in northwest DeSoto promotes its more than century-old churches, homes and cemeteries.


In stark contrast to that image, however, is Town Hall. The cinder block building built in the late 1960s is plain and doesn't look historic.

Mayor Travis Whitfield and the town aldermen have a goal to change that, and the Haynesville Shale likely is their solution. The town, like all other governing bodies in DeSoto, is reaping the financial benefits of the natural gas formation.

Each taxing entity has seen its revenue shatter previous records. Whether it's the oil and natural gas companies' purchases or the newfound wealth of DeSoto residents, dollars flowed over the past year to previously unreachable totals.

Parishwide, sales and use tax revenue collected from July 1, 2008, through June 30 hit $43.4 million — almost $20 million, or 83.7 percent, more than the previous year.

In Keatchie, which had a population of 333 in 2007, the sales tax brought in $30,000 — or 163 percent — more than the $18,419 collected in 2008. The extra is being put aside toward the plan to building a more historic looking Town Hall — and to do some serious ditch cleaning.

"It's not that much, but it's just a whole lot more than we've been used to getting," Whitfield said. "We're still on a fairly limited budget, but we've got our eyes on doing this new town hall."

Town officials haven't gone as far as getting quotes on the building project but know it could take up to $10,000 to do what they consider necessary ditching to alleviate flooding along some of the town's rural roads. A heavy downpour made that problem more evident in May, when water backed up throughout the town, Whitfield said.

"We know we don't have proper drainage. We don't know how far we can go with the money, but we will start with this one road (Depot Road) that is critical in town. We're getting estimates on it now."

The DeSoto Sales and Use Tax Commission classifies collections into five categories of business taxpayers: industry, vehicles, general retail, grocery and oil and natural gas. The last has seen the largest bump, growing from $2.8 million in collections last fiscal year to $7.2 million this year.

And even with the nation's and state's tentative economies, DeSoto has been holding its own in the other categories, with vehicles and general retail showing modest growth and industry and grocery seeing only slight declines.

It's those lagniappe projects that the Haynesville Shale spin-off money is helping to fund throughout the parish.

For the larger taxing agencies such as the DeSoto School Board, the money — $25.8 million this year compared to $13.8 million a year ago — meant the school system absorbed state funding cuts, created trust accounts to cover future employee benefit costs and even spread it among teachers and support staffers through a supplemental paycheck.

Sheriff Rodney Arbuckle also is setting some of his additional money aside to handle future employee insurance costs. The half-cent sales tax is dedicated to employee benefits so deputies have received raises. And the sheriff is able to cover insurance rate increases and the employees' contributions to their pension fund, which also puts money in their pockets.

The DeSoto Police Jury is shifting some its sales tax bonanza toward much-needed road projects. The portion that goes to the DeSoto Parish Library is enabling its Board of Control to build a branch in Logansport without going to taxpayers or borrowing funds.

The sales tax receipts in the municipalities understandably don't have as large of an impact as the extra millions collected by parishwide taxing agencies. But even in places such as Stonewall and South Mansfield, the extra thousands of dollars add up.

The small village of Grand Cane is having its own boom. It caught Mayor Clayton Davis by surprise.

"We couldn't figure out where it was all coming from. And then we finally figured the Haynesville Shale had a lot to do with it. But why?"

There is no direct drilling activity going on in the village's corporate limits, he noted. But rigs have gone up and down to the north, south, east and west, leaving producing wells along the way.

The seemingly endless convoy of contract workers associated with the drilling also is making its presence known in the village's two eateries. Dozens of company pickups and 18-wheelers can be found on any given day vying for parking spaces during the noon lunch rush.

Likewise, the extra traffic through the village that straddles U.S. Highway 171 also lures shoppers into Suzanne Brossette's Village Creations.

The village government is saving its money, Davis said. Grants provide most of the revenue for the major projects that have been undertaken, and he's likely to keep up that practice.

"We've kind of put this on the back burner to see where it all ends before we start spending anything," Davis said. "We're trying to be good stewards, you know.

"A little place like this can't go on a spending frenzy just because we have the money. We're kind of keeping it in reserve to see how it all plays out."

In Mansfield, a half-cent sales tax voters approved in January to overhaul the city's water system is adding to the bottom line. But Mayor Curtis McCoy believes some of the extra money also is generated from the additional spending going on in the city.

The cushion in proceeds means Mansfield will have funds to fall back on for unexpected expenses, he said. "But sales taxes being up 37 percent, that's wonderful for us. That means we are going to have a good year.

"Any windfall is a good year."


Buck