Local diocese gets OK on $20 million bond

The bond money is in the bank, and the Houma-Thibodaux Diocese is meeting with contactors and architect to finalize the plans for the five reconstruction projects at facilities owned and operated by the diocese.

In mid-November, the State Bond Commission approved $582 million in funding for projects in the New Orleans area and, of that, the local Roman Catholic Church was awarded $20 million.

The diocese’s director of finance and accounting Bill Barbera said, “The $20 million will be used to finance improvements at the schools owned by the diocese and the diocese’s office building.”

The bond issue settlements were closed on Dec. 7, and the diocese received the funds through the Louisiana Public Facility Authority, a self-supporting public trust and public corporation that issues both taxable and tax-exempt bonds to finance public and private projects throughout the state.

This is one of the largest projects in years for the diocese, the finance director said before he met with the parish leadership and school administrators on Thursday to establish the construction budget.

One of the five projects, which started prior to the bond, was completed in mid-December. Holy Savior Elementary School in Lockport has a new cafÈtorium, a cafeteria that can be converted into an auditorium. The project was estimated to cost $1.3 million.

E.D. White Catholic High School in Thibodaux is one of the longest ongoing construction projects for the diocese, which dates back to 1998 when the diocese started construction at E.D. White adding new classrooms and a new library.

“This is the second phase of the construction,” the business manager added. Groundbreaking on the new gym and athletic field house, plus renovations to the band room will begin sometime during the summer, according to Barbera. The architect for the E.D. White project is Duplantis Design Group in Thibodaux. The estimated cost of the project is $7.8 million.

The business manager said the finance department is expecting to receive bids from contractors for the Maria Immacolata Church project in Houma within the month.

Barbera said the diocese is finalizing the scope of the St. Mary’s Nativity Church project. He said the original plan was to build a cafÈtorium at the church, but the administrative offices were destroyed as by the 2005’s storms. He said the diocese’s finance department decided to add rebuilding the offices to the plan. According to the business manager, the project is estimated to cost $2.8 million.

This is the first time in the local diocese’s 29-year history that it applied for bonds. Barbera said traditionally the diocese obtains loans from its own banking system to pay for construction projects.

The Houma-Thibodaux Diocese began discussing the bond process more than a year ago. In April of 2006, the diocese signed the agreement to begin the process. Barbera said it took about eight months to put the whole transaction together.

“The process is much slower because it takes about two years to raise enough money to do one mid-sized construction project,” he said. “The low-increase loans make it efficient and less costly to build several projects at once.”

Barbera said it is a major relief in knowing that the diocese’s land or property is not required for collateral, as in the case with traditional lending institutions.

William Blair and Company, a Chicago-based company, is underwriting the tax-exempted bonds for the diocese. The business manager said the loan would be repaid in 30 years through donations, interest investments, capital campaigns and parishioner contributions.

Sophia Ruffin can be reached at sophia@tri-parishtimes.com.