Administrator says Allen Parish could lose $5.4M of property tax base

Published 8:25 am Saturday, March 7, 2026

Allen Parish could lose $5.4 million, or nearly 24 percent of the parish’s annual property tax base due to ongoing trust land acquisitions by the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana.

While the Allen Parish Police Jury respects tribal sovereignty and the right to place land into trust, these acquisitions – totaling more than 3,400 acres over the last two years – remove property from the tax rolls, according to Parish Administrator Jacob Dillehay.

The loss in revenue severely hinders the parish’s ability to provide state-mandated services, including police and fire protection, hospital and ambulance services, road and drainage maintenance, courthouse and jail operations, library services, and school support among others, he said.

“They’re purchasing property and then moving that property into trust and when they do that, they remove it from the property tax rolls,” Dillehay said. “It’s held in trust by the federal government.”

Most of the land is timberland in the Kinder and Elton area, with the exception of a hotel property located on U.S. 165 in Kinder.

“The goal is not necessarily to block land or future movements,” Dillehay said. “Rather, the request is for assistance on the revenue side, as these changes continue to remove property tax revenue – primarily from Ward II in the Kinder area.”

The police jury is seeking immediate attention and intervention from state and federal representatives concerning the fiscal and operational impacts of the ongoing fee-to-trust land acquisitions in the parish.

“They are a sovereign nation, and they have the right and the ability to put land in trust,” Dillehay said. “No way do we want to step on their sovereignty. It’s not what we’re asking for. In fact we are not asking that they not approve it. We’re asking that the federal and state government provide us another source of revenue to offset the loss of funds necessary to fulfill our obligations.”

Police jurors agree the Coushatta Tribe is a valued part of the parish and local economic development, but believe a solution exists to secure alternative revenue sources to continue providing essential services without shifting the tax burden to private property owners.

Police jurors this week drafted a letter to Gov. Jeff Landry, Speaker Mike Johnson and the Bureau of Indian Affairs requesting assistance to help mitigate the financial impacts.

“We’re losing revenue through this, but we’re mandated by the state and federal government to do certain things, so we’re reaching out to them and saying, ‘Okay if you are going to approve all these trust land deals, that’s fine. We don’t have a problem with it. But give us another way to pay for the things you expect us to do.”

The Police Jury is formally requesting that state and federal representatives take the following actions:

– Acknowledge Fiscal Impact: Formally recognize that the current fee-to-trust acquisition process creates an unsustainable fiscal impact on rural local governments mandated to provide services.

– Facilitate Collaborative Dialogue: Engage the Coushatta Tribe, the state, and Allen Parish to develop an agreement that offsets impacts on essential services, establishes revenue mechanisms to replace lost property taxes, and addresses infrastructure maintenance obligations.

– Require Comprehensive Assessment: Mandate an assessment of the combined effects of multiple trust land acquisitions rather than evaluating cases in isolation.

Police jurors are asking the representative to acknowledge the correspondence within 30 days to help establish a framework for a workable solution.