The following questions were asked of each candidiate for Iberia Parish Council District 6. Here are the answers from Robbie Parrish exactly how they were received:

1. What are the three biggest issues facing the Iberia Parish? Your district? What specifically should be done to address each?

1   A desperate need to fix and build new  roads in the parish.  2  Our growing senior citizen population is in need of  much help. 3   Crime is on the rise here.

 

To solve  the road problem will take money from new areas.  Nationally there will be fewer dollars for grants for new roads and   road repairs. We need to sit down and develop a plan to find  places where these funds can be found.

 

To solve our senior citizen problems , we need to realize that most of these people are living on fixed incomes. They cannot afford a rise in taxes, rent and the cost of living. We need to pool all available resources to find a solution to the  their problems. Getting a better local transportation system will be needed. Many do not even have cars. On their limited incomes many cannot afford taxi  fares.  This is the area that I look forward to helping most.

 

To work on the crime problems we will need to have our Iberia Parish Sheriffs Department conduct neighborhood meetings to better educate the public on ways to curb crime and better  use the services of that  Department.

 

     The second part of question #1 deals with my own District.  I would say the same three problems are present here and  could be solved using the formula  I suggested to work out  our 3 main parishwide   concerns.

 

2. What are your thoughts about the tax increment financing districts? Should voters decide taxes in such a district?

Question # 2   I do not favor the TIF taxes as a means to grow  the economy. We need to look at Enterprise Free Zones to grow the economy. That will bring in more business. These TIF taxes are just running industry away from here.  We just cannot force a tax  on the public in an area to pay for  someones private business.  If any tax of this nature is considered, then the public must have a chance to vote for  or against that tax.

 

3. Are there areas of spending in parish government that could be reduced? What areas of spending in parish government should be increased?

Question # 3   Where I find duplication of services between city and parish ….I will look at consolidating some services.

 

4. What are your thoughts about consolidating some parish and city services?

Question # 4  Where we find overlapping services….we can review those areas and look to cut there.

 

5. A recycling contract is in limbo right now. An argument against recycling is that there is little participation in the parish. An argument for it is it is a viable way to reduce the amount of waste headed to landfills. Do you support recycling? If you do, do you have any ideas how to increase participation?

Question  # 5  I do favor recycling and will  push hard  to make it work. Many many tax dollars can be saved if we find the right  way to get people to take part in the process.