Deborah Carney
October 20, 2009
Mrs. Leontine (Tina) Harris
October 22, 2009The St. Mary Parish Council is applying for more than $7.3 million in capital outlay fund grants for various projects, including money to resurface the Atchafalaya Basin Levee Road to neighboring Iberia Parish.
The council made its wish list public at last Wednesday’s parish council meeting. Priorities for the money also include:
• $2.18 million to install culverts and other infrastructure to Middle Road in Bayou Vista.
• $676,000 to match $188,000 in parish funds for modifications and improvements to the Blevins Building in Franklin for the relocation of certain parish offices.
• 656,000 for improvements and construction for recreation in Bayou Vista.
• $626,000 to match $100,000 in parish funds for the installation of recreation and infrastructure improvements at Centerville Park.
• $626,000 to match $100,000 in parish funds for the installation of recreation and infrastructure improvements at Sorrell Park.
• $626,000 to match $100,000 in parish funds for the installation of recreation and infrastructure improvements at St. Joseph Park in the St. Joseph-Gumpoint Community;
• $626,000 to match $100,000 in parish funds for the installation of recreation and infrastructure improvements at “Bring Back the Neighborhood Park” in Franklin;
• $560,000 for drainage improvements in Morgan City.
• $375,000 to match $68,748 in local funds for the construction of an administrative and activity center for the St. Mary Association for Retarded Children, near Centerville.
• $354,000 for improvements at Kemper Williams Park in Patterson.
• $108,000 for building improvements at the Bayou Vista Volunteer Fire Department.
In other fiscal business, the council voted to raise St. Mary Parish’s tipping fee by 50 cents per ton at the parish landfills in Berwick and Franklin.
The new rates – $40.50 per ton, $35.50 per ton for construction and demolition waste and $57 per ton for industrial waste – will go into effect beginning Dec 1.
All five parish municipalities use the landfills as a garbage dumping site.
“We can’t wait,” LaGrange told councilmembers prior to the vote. “The council is having tough times, too. And if you don’t vote for the hike, then the parish is going to be subsidizing commercial waste for all five municipalities.”
In other business, St. Mary Parish Assessor Jarrod Longman briefed the council on the parish’s year-to-date sales and use tax collections through Sept. 30.
According to Longman, collected taxes have been allocated in the following totals:
• Morgan City – $3.082 million
• Franklin – $2.021 million
• Berwick – $1.051 million
• Patterson – $1.182 million
• Baldwin – $578,529
The sheriff’s office has received approximately $1.768 million and the parish council has yielded $4.113 million, he said. The parish school board, which receives the bulk of the taxes, has received $12.386.
Longman’s office has collected more than $26.184 million through Sept. 30.
