St. Tammany Parish voters have dedicated tax dollars for mosquito control services. These services are managed by a voluntary Board of Commissioners. Those services are in direct threat by actions undertaken by the St. Tammany Parish Council to conduct an uninformed investigation and smear campaign of how these dedicated funds are spent. On Wednesday, November 5, 2025, St. Tammany Parish Mosquito Abatement (STPMAD) filed an injunction against St. Tammany Parish Government (STPG) by and through the St. Tammany Parish Council to restrain it from continuing forward with the unlawful investigation.
St. Tammany Parish Government and the Council are facing a budgetary shortfall after St. Tammany Parish voters declined six tax measures at the ballot to increase funding to support our public safety system. Despite a clear indication of voter distrust and disapproval of additional funding, the Council through its members, committees, and agents, concocted a scheme to publicly smear Mosquito Abatement to gain support to consolidate STPMAD within itself in order to take control of STPMAD’s dedicated funds and assets. While Mosquito Abatement supports a fully funded public safety system, it does not believe that this should come at the cost of public health.
To garner support for this scheme, the Council conducted an illegal and unauthorized investigation into STPMAD, and deputized STPMAD’s own legal counsel, the district attorney, to investigate and disparage its client in violation of attorney ethics rules. Despite promoting the process as transparent and collaborative, this was a direct attack on dedicated tax dollars.
“The Mosquito Abatement team has been cooperative throughout this investigation; however, it is clear there was always a predetermined outcome here. The process lacked transparency, accountability, subject-matter expertise, or the collective effort that set forth in the Councils’ committee mission. The process has served to only further breakdown public trust in government. St. Tammany Parish Mosquito Abatement strives to provide the best possible mosquito control service for our community as mandated in its charter and will defend those tax dollars until our residents tell us otherwise.”
STPMAD has posted a rebuttal document to the presentation given by the District Attorney’s office on October 23, to the website at https://stpmad.org/government-efficiency-report/. STPMAD leadership requested they be given the opportunity to present a rebuttal before Parish Council but has yet received no response to coordinate a date and time for that meeting. On November 18, at 6pm, STPMAD will hold an open public meeting at their office in Slidell to present their rebuttal to the public. A Teams link will be provided on our website for those who wish to attend virtually.
For additional information please call St. Tammany Parish Mosquito Abatement office (985)643-5050.