Saturday's election is huge!

Here, the question is whether to keep the administration of Mayor Thomas Nelson or to turn down a different path with political newcomer Melinda “Mel” Narcisse-Mitchell and her supporters.

Parishwide, the question is whether to continue to fund –with tax dollars gleaned from long-standing property taxes –fire protection, drainage, roads and bridges, public health services, the parish courthouse, libraries, recreation, and the industrial park.

These are especially important questions for an “off” election – one held in the midst of no less a distraction than the annual Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival.

And they are by no means already settled going in.

In his two terms in office, Nelson, a former longtime police juror/parish councilman, has kept St. Martinville solvent through the loss of Walmart, eased some of the pain of St. Martinville’s infamously high electric bills, and significantly tamped down the acrimony between black and white constituencies on the council

But he has a number of vocal detractors saying the people should be getting a much better deal on the electricity sold to them by the city, and that services like recreation and policing could be a lot better. A few even stood up in a recent public forum sponsored by the parish Democratic Executive Committee and suggested that public monies could be being misused.

Mitchell promises improvement on all fronts.

Electricity would be an issue regardless of who is in office. St. Martinville buys electric power wholesale and sells it via its own distribution grid, earning about $1.6 million in revenue annually. The administration, whoever it may be, is bound by who sells the power and how it gets here. Cleco, the only bidder in recent times, provided electricity from plants powered by expensive natural gas. Another limiting factor has been the single Entergy transmission line serving the city and who has access to it.

A break-through in the availability of cheaper wholesale power seems perpetually on the horizon.

The city did introduce “levelized” billing which enables customers to pay more in the temperate seasons when electrical demand is down and to pay less in the summer when it skyrockets. And there have been attempts, not widely embraced, to attack a significant cause of high electric bills, which is poor insulation and outdated appliances.

The police department, a source of controversy over the years, is an issue ready-made for former Assistant Chief of Police Nary Smith, who is challenging Debra Landry for the District 4 seat on the council. Smith, who is suing the city for age, race and sex discrimination for turning him out to pasture at age 65, says that SMPD was never better managed than when he was acting chief.

Nelson counters that the department was never better managed than when Todd D’Albor, now chief of police in Jennings, was running it as “chief administrative officer,” a bureaucratic end run around Civil Service and Chief Paula Smith (no relation to Nary).

“We have to revamp the police department,” Nelson said at the Democratic Executive Committee’s forum. “We have to find someone who can take control. The system is not working. Something has to happen.”

Asked to name the city’s – or District 4’s – biggest problems, Nelson said the police department, Mitchell said electric bills, a lack of businesses and poor infrastructure, Landry said blighted property, and Smith said low police pay.

From the audience came questions about the city’s finances. South Main businessman Cory Miles and another man who declined to give his name rose to question the administration’s financial accountability.

Nelson replied that the city is audited by an independent CPA firm every year and those audits are available for inspection at City Hall. (They can also be viewed at www.lla.state.la.us/PublicReports.nsf. Click “By Parish” and scroll down.)

However, Miles made it plain he is seeking a forensic audit by a firm that has never audited the city, and Mitchell pledged to provide that as mayor.

The eight tax proposals on the ballot are all 10-year renewals, continuing existing property taxes to support the following:

•Roads and bridges – 4.57 mills raising $1,450,000 a year;

•Drainage – 6.49 mills, $2,050,000 a year;

•Libraries – 4.21 mills, $1,300,000 a year;

•Recreation – 1.29 mills, $410,000 a year;

•Public health – (3.29 mills, $1,050,000 a year;

•Courthouse – 2.20 mills, $700,000 a year;

•Fire protection – 6 mills, $1,900,000 a year;

•Industrial park – 1.91 mills, $600,000 a year.

These are not a no-brainer for everybody. There have been a lot of anonymous complaints on social media that tax measure are routinely “sneaked” by the public in “off” elections – like one held during the Crawfish Festival, and state Sen. Bret Allain, R-Franklin, has even offered legislation (SB 200) that would nullify any taxes passed with less than 20 percent voter turnout.

Parish President Guy Cormier counters that local entities are limited as to when they can hold tax elections. And as for discouraging turnout, the parish has gone the extra mile to make early voting available in Breaux Bridge as well as St. Martinville and Stephensville.

Voter turnout is, of course, the responsibility of the voters. To quote the late Hunter S. Thompson, and probably a legion of others before him, “In a democracy, the people deserve the government they get.”

A note on voting hours from the St. Martin Parish Clerk of Court: Polls will be open Saturday from 7 a.m. – not 6 a.m. as in previous elections – to 8 p.m.