COTEAU — Ray Fremin, executive director of the Iberia Parish Levee, Hurricane, and Conservation District Board of Commissioners, was back out in front of an audience Tuesday evening.

It was the second town hall he’s held recently to promote a proposed 5-mill tax to help fund a levee system across the parish. Fremin presented the plan Oct. 16 to a gathering of about 80 people in Delcambre.

On Tuesday evening, about 30 people met to listen and ask questions at the Francis Romero Building in Coteau.   

According to the Acadiana Flood Protection Coalition, the funding arm of the IPLHC, revenue from the tax is to be dedicated to the construction, maintenance and operation and improvement of levees, hurricane and surge protection and flood control within the district. The group has said the project would protect businesses, lower insurance, improve drainage and potentially save lives — points Fremin largely emphasized Tuesday night.

“We want to protect people, we want to lower flood insurance costs, and we want to protect our culture and our way of life,” he said. 

“Every home within the parish will be within the protection of the levee with the exception of Avery Island,” which is the highest point in the parish and is less prone to flooding, he said.

There will be an elevated evacuation route in and out of Avery Island, however. 

Current plans would cost $424 million for construction and $2 million in yearly maintenance for the next 50 years. The tax is expected to draw in $2.9 million annually for a period of 30 years; that money, leveraged and matched with state and federal dollars, is expected to cover those costs. 

“That money is not available unless you have dollars to come to the table with,” Fremin said, “and right now, we’re not even at the table.” 

As a large poster board sign he’s taken to both meetings proclaims, the millage breaks down to $37.50 a year for homes valued at $150,000 and above, $12.50 for homes valued between $75,000 and $100,000, and no cost at all for homes valued at less than $75,000. 

Keith Renard said his house, off Louisiana 14 near Delcambre, has been flooded during Hurricanes Ike and Rita. 

“If you had to go through this, you’d vote for this in a heartbeat,” Renard said to the crowd. “It’s incumbent on the people of this parish to pass this.”

Another man seconded that opinion and noted his home has flooded three times. 

“I’ve got children and grandchildren in Iberia Parish. I want them to stay here. I may not see it and he may not see it,” he said, referencing a previous speaker, who voiced skepticism about the plan, “but they will.” 

The skeptic who spoke earlier had voiced concerns about whether permitting might forbid completion and whether or not the leveraged and matching funds would be available, but said he is against the project generally, too. 

Oneil Malbrough, an engineer at GIS Engineering, said he has worked on 17 similar levee projects in coastal parishes, and that it is highly unlikely this plan would not proceed as those had.