Lafayette bond plan looks to have voters’ OK

By KEVIN BLANCHARD
Acadiana bureau
Published: Jul 16, 2006

LAFAYETTE — Voters in Lafayette appeared late Saturday to have overwhelmingly approved a package of property       tax renewals and a $215 million bond authorization proposal to fund $215 million worth of infrastructure improvements such as roads, drainage and recreation projects.

The four renewals continue the current level of property tax levels to fund the Lafayette Parish Library, parish roads and bridges, the Lafayette Parish Public Health Unit and the Bayou Vermilion District.

The $215 million bond issuance will pay for infrastructure improvements such as roads, drainage and recreation projects within the city limits of Lafayette.

That measure, with 88 precincts out of 89 reporting in unofficial reports, appeared to have passed by a 5,052 to 1,745 vote on one of the city’s 1-cent sales taxes and a 5,050 to 1,779 vote on the other 1-cent sales tax.

Both sales tax proceeds will be used to back a $215 million bond issuance — which is based on the existing sales taxes, not a new tax.

Of the $215 million, about $156 million is earmarked for roads. Another $33 million would be for drainage projects, as well as $8 million for recreation projects.

Most of the $156 million in newly approved road projects were initially included in a similar 1997 bond issue, but never constructed because of rising construction costs and changing priorities.

City-Parish President Joey Durel  said the additional bond money will allow Lafayette to “limp along” over the next 10 years, building projects that should have been built years ago.

Now that the new bond authorization has passed, it leaves open the issue of whether the city-parish administration will pursue an additional, new tax to fund further road and drainage projects. The bond authority approved Saturday is to be used for projects initially promised in a similar 1997 bond proposition that were never completed because of increasing construction costs and inflation.

There are, at least, an additional $200 million worth of roads and drainage projects the administration has identified as needs.

Durel said Saturday that he will begin talks with transportation experts Monday on what type of proposal to bring to voters at a later date to fund some of those other infrastructure improvements.

Durel said he didn’t know what timeline residents might expect to hear about a new revenue source.  But given dwindling state funding for highways, there are few options other than Lafayette funding its own road projects, Durel said.

“If we’re gonna make a difference at all, we’re gonna have to be the ones that take over the state roads in Lafayette,” Durel said. “This election tonight doesn’t do that.”

If Lafayette is to “jump ahead of the curve” in its infrastructure, it will take a new revenue source, Durel said. Durel said he wants to hear from his department directors exactly what projects could be done and what they would cost to build.

In addition, Lafayette Parish voters approved a measure, by a 8,186 to 1,162 margin — with 119 out of 120 precincts reporting that imposes term limits on the Lafayette Parish School Board. The first proposal renewed a 2.91-mill property tax for Lafayette Parish public libraries, money used for operating the system. That measure passed by a 7,478 to 1,910 margin, with 119 out of 120 precincts reporting.

The second renewed a 2.06-mill tax for the Lafayette Parish Public Health Unit, by a 7,387 to 1,956 margin with 119 out of 120 precincts reporting. The third renewal — approved by a 7,310 to 2,026 margin with all but one of the 120 precincts reporting — was for a 4.17-mill property tax for building and maintaining roads and bridges in Lafayette Parish.

The fourth property tax renewal, for a 0.75-mill tax for the Bayou Vermilion District, passed by a 6,903 to 2,421 margin, with 119 out of 120 precincts reporting.

Story originally published in The Advocate