Breaux Bridge planning $2.2 million project to improve distribution of water

The city fathers here have embarked upon an ambitious plan to improve and increase the delivery of municipal water plus other infrastructure improvements using funds from the city’s special taxing district on I-10.

The first of its kind in the state, the district was created in 2008 with legislation by then-state Sen. Troy Hebert and freshman state Rep. Fred Mills Jr. (now a state senator). It places an additional penny sales tax on businesses straddling Rees Street from I-10 south to but excluding Doug Ashy Building Materials.

The first step in utilizing the funds, taken earlier this month, was to introduce an ordinance outlining a “master plan,” a requirement of the legislation that set up the taxing district.

At its regularly scheduled meeting on May 13, the City Council will hold a public hearing on the master plan.

And at its June 10 meeting, the council will, after another public hearing, vote on the ordinance adopting the master plan. (Passage requires a two-thirds majority.)

Construction on the water projects could start as early as November and be done by summer of 2015.

The projects, totalling $2.2 million, would be paid for with cash on hand from the tax. A subsequent Phase II, yet-to-be-specified infrastructure improvements, would be financed by borrowing against the tax’s revenue stream.

According to architect Glenn Angelle, who has prepared the master plan for the city, the cash available for the projects was $2,350,264.12 as of February – and that amount was increasing by some $65,000 a month. By law, 20 percent must be retained for maintenance of the fund, which amount was over a half a million and climbing in February.

The city is negotiating with the Cecilia Water System to purchase its meters and connecting lines in the area annexed by Breaux Bridge north of I-10. Under the plan, that cost would be passed on to the customers in the form of a front-foot assessment.

As for Phase II, the city’s bonding attorneys estimate the revenue will support borrowing from $5 million to $7 million.

Public hearings on Phase II, characterized only as “several items that are of high priority for quality of life,” could come in this fall with construction next summer.

Phase I has two parts: a) extending new 10- or 12-inch water mains from existing city mains to serve commercial and residential customers in the city limits north of I-10, generally called the North Bridge area; and b) connect a new water main to the existing main on La. Hwy. 94 westward some 5,000 feet along Highway 94 to the city limits.

The water delivery system improvements are meant to stave off a reduction in the city’s fire insurance rating, up for review next year. If it drops two classes, from 3 to 5, it would cost the average homeowner almost $100 more a year in premiums.

Other benefits foreseen by the city fathers include improved potential for economic development, and of course more revenue from the sale of water – a lot more if the parish extends those lines beyond the city limits to the developing areas west of Breaux Bridge.

The area, known as Anse La Butte, and Butte La Rose in the Atchafalaya Basin, are the last two communities not served by a water system.

The city’s refurbished water plant is currently operating at about a third of its capacity.