Voters to be asked to pay more

The Morganza Funding Advisory Task Force will decide on May 31 which of four taxation packages it will ask voters to accept in order to continue work on the Morganza to the Gulf interior levee system.

Needing at least $120 million to connect multiple levee and floodgate reaches from Dulac to Pointe-aux-Chenes, plus cover maintenance costs, the task force has been called upon to determine revenue sources and present a plan they hope will hold public appeal.

Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District is three projects short of completing an interior levee and floodgate system, designed to reduce seawater surges from offshore storms as well as those making landfall.

“Initially, the task force was formed to discuss what is needed and what we should do,” TLCD budget chairman and task force member Jack Moore said. “We now know that within the next year, when we have completed construction on [current] projects, we are out of money. We don’t go any farther.”

Led by bond attorney Jerry Osborne and TLCD administrative manager Angela Rains, task force members have been offered four funding options for taxing citizens and a view of what each method could generate.

In the first option, voters would be asked to approve a half-cent sales tax combined with 25-year limited bonds. This method could generate approximately $12 million in one year.

A second option would involve issuing general obligation bonds while imposing a quarter-cent sales tax, which could generate $150 million in 10 years.

The third option – considered the most subjective – involves a one-cent sales tax for five years, followed by a half-cent sales tax for another five years. It is estimated that relying solely on sales taxes in this manner could generate $24 million a year. It would also push local sales taxes beyond their current level of 8.5 percent.

Option four is to have a quarter-cent sales tax for 15 years. Collecting $180 million in eight years, this method relies heavily on visitor dollars coming in as well as local spending more than with the other three models.

“Each of these options has several different variables,” Rains said. “Sales tax revenue is borne by both local residents and non-residents. We don’t know the exact [breakdown of who pays what percentage] but we do know that a significant amount is paid by people that do not live in Terrebonne Parish.”

Task force member and CPA Charles Teriot cautions that, historically speaking, sales taxes weigh heavier on low-income individuals while property and ad valorem taxes impact affluent residents and businesses more. “I just want to make that known so we consider all taxpayers and residents of Terrebonne Parish,” he said.

Several task force members have said they want to consider side-by-side comparisons and study the pros and cons of each tax model before making a decision. They also expressed a need to educate the public regarding what is involved with the Morganza-to-the-Gulf project and how it benefits them.

TLCD Executive Director Reggie Dupre said simply imposing a tax does not completely address the challenge. He said in order to get state or federal assistance, a local 35 percent match is required. “Then there is required maintenance each year,” he said. “You also have to have money to put up to cover bonds.”

Terrebonne Parish Council Chairwoman Arlanda Williams is calling on the task force to consider asking private industry – particularly businesses that have pipelines in direct line with the levee system – to join in financing those levees through a public/private partnership. She noted that it would be difficult to gain public support for a sales tax from people in areas such as Gibson without support from the businesses being protected.

“Every time we cross a pipeline it costs us almost $1 million to fortify that pipeline or do something to protect it so it is not damaged,” Moore said outside last week’s task force meeting. “Perhaps there is some willingness on the part of the pipeline company to share expenses and do public/private partnership to enhance the Morganza project.”

“Most people have no idea what is involved,” TLCD President Tony Alford said. “We need to find a way to explain what has taken place and what needs to take place. They don’t have any idea what Reach-J is, but they do know where Chauvin is. We need to do a better job explaining what we have done and what we still need to do.”

Task force member and Morganza Action Coalition president Sharon Bergeron said because no financial help being provided by the federal government, locals have come to realize that paying for Terrebonne’s storm protection is up to them.

“If we wait for Washington to save us, we are going to have to go get inner tubes or something,” Bergeron said. “We will have to educate to public on what we have been talking about and explain the funding.”

According to Moore, $226 million in combined state grants, and collections form an existing Terrebonne Parish quarter-cent sales tax. The monies have been spent or are in process of financing 11 levee and floodgate sections throughout the parish.

TLCD coffers hold approximately $20 million, he said, but those are committed funds that are expected to be depleted by the end of 2012.

The levee district is also waiting on Community Development Block Grants to finance two projects – one near Dularge and the other at Pointe-aux-Chenes.

Seeking multiple revenue sources, but facing elements of uncertainty, levee district leaders spearheaded formation of the task force.

The Morganza-to-the-Gulf Funding Advisory Task Force is a collection of government agency, public association and private industry representatives interested in providing the public an open forum regarding costs associated with building the Morganza protection system.

“It is designed to bring in minds of the community that would have an interest in what is going on,” Moore said.

The first-ever task force of this nature for Terrebonne Parish began conducting public meetings in March and has been examining suggested ways to generate funding for levees, floodgates and locks.

“For me, the task force is where we make decisions on what we request of the public,” Moore said. “There is only one revenue source for a public body and that is through some form of tax. There is no other avenue. We are still laying out the game plan and looking at various options.”

“When people saw on TV the [U.S.] Corps of Engineers in New Orleans [following Hurricane Katrina] saving people, we thought we would be rescued as well [following Hurricane Gustav],” Alford said. “Well, that ain’t gonna’ happen.”

“There is not a doubt in my mind that this is a serious need,” Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet said. “You can’t wait. We have to move forward.”

“Before 2008 and Hurricane Gustav, a lot of people thought this was a down the bayou problem,” Dupre said. “That year, we actually had ocean water in downtown Houma. It made people understand that Houma is a coastal community and storm protection is a problem for all of us.”

Terrebonne Parish Councilman Dirk Guidry, who represents the Chauvin area, said the Morganza interior levee construction has already benefited residents there. “It is a great improvement [for protection from tidal movement],” he said. “People have noticed.”

According to Moore, TLCD is faced with a critical need to secure funding beyond a quarter-cent sales tax voters approved in 2001. Otherwise, it could be faced with shutting down work on the anticipated storm surge protection system if a cash flow guarantee is not secured.

Any newly proposed tax issue could be placed on the Nov. 6 general election ballot. Collections of a sales tax would begin Jan. 1, 2013, whereas, if an ad valorem is part of a voter-approved decision, it would take effect on Jan. 1, 2014.

Morganza