July 21
July 21, 2009Louise Fanguy Buquet
July 23, 2009State Rep. Sam Jones believes the Atchafalaya Basin Levee District owes St. Mary Parish a $144,000 refund.
Speaking at a recent St. Mary Parish Levee District meeting, Jones said the Atchafalaya Basin district levied and collected $72,000 in 2008 and in 2009. Jones is now questioning whether the district is entitled to the money since it removed St. Mary Parish from its rolls after the St. Mary Parish Levee District was created in 2006.
Jones (D-Franklin) said he authored legislation this past session to redesign the boundaries of the Atchafalaya Basin Levee District to include St. Mary Parish.
“We got it through the House, 99 to nothing, but when it got over to the Senate, Sen. Rob Marionneaux killed it,” Jones said. He quoted the Livonia Democrat as having said that he would block the legislation “unless you can come up with $500,000 worth of taxes that you can apply to St. Mary Parish.”
Nonetheless, Jones said that the basin district has continued to collect the 5-mill maintenance tax from St. Mary Parish residents. “I believe they collected a tax they weren’t authorized to collect,” he contended.
Jones explained that the St. Mary Parish Levee District cannot assess any taxes – maintenance or otherwise – for at least two years.
St. Mary Levee District Legal Advisor Gerard Bourgeois called the situation “a legal pickle” and suggested seeking an attorney general’s opinion as to whether the parish can seek a refund.
In the meantime, grass on the basin levee has not been cut since October 2008, according to St. Mary Levee District Commis-sioner Carl Kraemer. The Atchafalaya Basin Levee District, which is responsible for all other levees within its boundaries, argues it has no access into St. Mary Parish and cannot be expected to maintain grass cutting.
Until an agreement can be reached, Jones is suggesting an agreement forged in the 1940s between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Atchafalaya Basin district be honored. “Congress mandates the need for the maintenance of the levees. State law can’t supersede federal law. Let the corps handle it,” he said.
St. Mary Parish Levee District Board Chairman Bill Hidalgo suggested at the group’s recent meeting that the district write the Atchafalaya district a letter giving them access into the parish and asking that they cut the grass. The decision was unanimous among other commissioners.
Contacted after last week’s meeting, Sen. Butch Gautreaux (D-Morgan City) said, “The basin district welcomed the opportunity to kick St. Mary Parish out so they could save money. Frankly, when Jack Smith (Jones’ predecessor) and I created the St. Mary Parish Levee District, we did not realize we would get kicked out of the Atchafalaya Basin. Mind you, $72,000 isn’t a lot of money, but it is money that they collected so they should fulfill their obligations.”
Gautreaux said the St. Mary Parish Levee District was created to provide better levee protection in West St. Mary Parish.
Toward that end, work on levees south of U.S. Highway 90 in West St. Mary Parish continues, according to Corps Senior Project Manager Marti Lucore.
“With the little federal money we receive, it is a lot easier to build miles of levees and to reinforce levees,” she said. “Our projects here are levee elevation. We’re building up what erosion has taken away south of U.S. Highway 90.”
Elevation is essential to the integrity of the levee, but will not prevent flooding such as was experienced during Hurricane Ike last year, Lucore said.
“What we are doing will give control to any backwater flooding south of U.S. Highway 90,” she said.
The topic of flooding post-Ike has been a contentious one between the levee district and the corps. Hidalgo has long argued that the corps should be focused on keeping U.S. Highway 90 dry.
“I would think that the corps would want to keep a major evacuation route open at all times,” he said, reminding Lucore that the highway was closed from Verdunville to Franklin after Ike pushed floodwaters ashore.
“Well, maybe we need to form a better means of communication with you,” Lucore responded, “because our priorities at the corps may not be your priorities in the parish.”
The levee district could have an opportunity to discuss communication breakdowns in the very near future.
A roundtable discussion between Franklin leaders and Col. Alvin B. Lee, the New Orleans Corps District’s commander and district engineer, is set for tomorrow.
The meeting will be held beginning at 10:15 a.m. at Franklin City Hall.
Lee is expected to hear concerns regarding levee protection if storm surge pushes into the Franklin Canal.
