Turnout was light for local elections held across the Northshore yesterday.
In Hammond, Britain Sledge won his runoff against Erica Williams for the City Judge in Hammond post. Turnout was just under 20% and Sledge drew 65% of the vote. A Garbage District #1 tax renewal passed but a 15-mil tax for Fire Protection District #1 failed.
In St Tammany, DA Warren Montgomery lost an attempt to regain some funding for his office through his own tax proposition. The turnout was less than 9% with 54% saying no. Montgomery himself campaigned extensively for the proposition but decided to forgo a more traditional effort. This is yet another failure of parish officials to secure funding that dates back to renewals that voters rejected under then Parish President Pat Brister and current Parish President Mike Cooper. Montgomery says his office has been defunded and he will be unable to continue to operate at current funding levels. In the recent past the DA said if his tax proposition failed, he would be forced to sue St Tammany Parish Government.
In Slidell, Fire District #1 conceded their 15-mil tax after it did not pass, saying they would like to thank all of those that chose to support local firefighters, and they have more work to do.
