Morganza tax likely to be on February ballot

Encouraged by the slim margin of defeat, the Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District will again seek a sales tax to finance the local share of the Morganza to the Gulf hurricane protection project.

Rather than seek a full cent, the district will ask voters to OK a half-cent.

Last year, a request for a one-cent sales tax in Terrebonne Parish failed by fewer than 300 votes.

The Morganza project is a 72-mile maze of levees, locks and floodgates designed to protect Terrebonne and portions of Lafourche parishes from storm surge in the event of a Category 3 or higher hurricane.

The project will tie into the northern end of the South Lafourche’s levee system to provide protection along both parishes’ coastlines. However, only Terrebonne voters will cast ballots on the sales tax.

Voters in Lafourche’s 10th Ward recently approved a one-cent sales tax dedicated to upgrading a stretch of the ring levee between Larose and Golden Meadow.

Last fall, a number of Terrebonne Parish voters expressed concern that the one-cent request did not list an ending date. The new ballot proposal, however, calls for a sunset of the tax after 30 years.

If approved, the levee district predicts the sales tax could bring in $12 million annually. The monies would be dedicated to paying the parish’s share of the project.

Officials believe the tax stands a better chance of passing because Morganza is on the verge of finally receiving federal approval. The levee work has been awaiting a federal blessing since 2000; the last time water-resources legislation passed the U.S. Congress.

The U.S. House and Senate have recently passed differing versions of WRDA, both of which include authorization for the Morganza project.

Once a compromise on WRDA’s language is reached, which is expected before the end of the year, federal monies should be made available to keep the levee work on a steady track.

Levee district executive director Jerome Zeringue said he is confident the project can get the federal funding that it needs for construction once WRDA gets Congress’ final stamp of approval. “With the – hopefully – forthcoming federal approval, it should put the project in the position to have funds appropriated by the federal government, as well as giving local voters confidence in passing a sales tax in order to build the levee,” he said.