Tougher road ahead for repairs

Published 6:00 am Thursday, November 8, 2018

Iberia Parish voters overwhelmingly decided against a bid by Iberia Parish Government for a new tax that would have gone toward maintaining roads in unincorporated areas. 

Now, Iberia Parish Government officials must address what is becoming one of the critical problems in the parish and do so without the extra funding. 

The ¾-cent sales tax that was on the ballot Tuesday was approved by the Iberia Parish Council earlier this year for several reasons, the most notable in that the IPG has no dedicated source of revenue to better the roads in Iberia. The tax would have generated $3.2 million annually, and would have been renewable after a 10-year period.

IPC Chairman Paul Landry said after Tuesday’s results, the condition of the roads may stay that way a long time. 

“I think the majority of the people just didn’t know,” Landry said about the tax. “As much as we tried to get the word out with town halls, television, newspapers and social media, they have an obligation to keep up. 

“We can’t get to everybody and make them understand. The people that have bad roads today, those roads are the best they’ll ever have.”

Traditionally, parish roads have been taken care of through Iberia Parish’s Royalty Fund, which steadily dwindled due to the state of the economy. 

“We never had road money. We had oil money and the oil is gone,” Landry said. 

Iberia Parish President Larry Richard, who was slightly more optimistic immediately after the election, and said that infrastructure will be repaired in Iberia but will take a little longer without a road tax. 

“It’s going to take longer with no dedicated funding to get it,” Richard said. 

“It’s just going to be a longer process. I think things are going to get a little tighter before it gets better.”

Richard said he plans on getting resources from the Metropolitan Planning Organization and grand funds in the future to help with roads in the future. 

Committees also are being formed to look more closely at Iberia Parish finances. An ad-hoc committee was formed earlier this year to investigate parish millages and how they might be better used, but action was postponed until after Tuesday’s election. 

Richard said that committee will soon start meeting again. 

Landry said a committee to look at restricting farmer access on certain roads in the parish may also be possible as well. 

“The road tax gave the community a chance to invest in themselves for a small price, and now we’re really not going to have any money for any type of funding,” Landry said.