Louisiana

St. Bernard Parish wants to get in on as much as $150 million in federal tax incentives for construction and redevelopment. Apparently the parish does not have the institutional expertise to acquire the incentives themselves, so, according to the Times-Picayune they hired an outside company, CBO Financial Inc., to do it for them.

CBO's president, Craig W. Stanley of Maryland, has experience with the relatively new tax credit program and will help the parish apply for the program. Stanley will be paid only if the parish is awarded an allocation of tax credits under the program, Taffaro said.

At Stanley's suggestion, the commission is drawing up a simple legal document to create an entity that ultimately will administer the incentive program if the parish is awarded a tax credit allocation. Stanley's role is to write the application for the parish to get the authorization to administer as much as $150 million of $3.9 billion in tax credits that Congress approved to help areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The program encourages investment by providing tax credits over a number of years. The tax credits could also be used to start a loan fund in distressed communities, Stanley said.

Councilman Lynn Dean was the lone commission member to oppose contracting with Stanley's company. Dean said he worries about government playing too large a role in free enterprise. Besides, Dean said, the parish should write the grant application itself so it wouldn't have to pay Stanley 2 percent from the allocation's proceeds.

For those counting at home, 2% of $150 million is $3 million. $3 million for one application (if you think the feds are going to deny incentives to New Orleans, you're crazy), not bad!