The New Iberia City Council voted to begin the process of eventually floating a bond for a road program at Tuesday’s regular meeting. 

The council unanimously voted to give preliminary approval on what is expected to be a $12.5 million bond that will go to repairing some of the worst roads in Iberia Parish. Mayor Freddie DeCourt said the city administration has had meetings with several banks to float the bond and a selection was made. 

“We have the bond at $12.5 million but we’ll make the final decision as it gets closer,” DeCourt said at the meeting. “This is for 20 years, I need to get cash on the front end but on the flipside we don’t want to handicap the next administration when I’m gone and the notes get really high.”

DeCourt said the city has been analyzing various proposals regarding payment structures to pay for the bond over the 20 years, and the administration is trying to find a middle ground between injecting New Iberia’s roads with much needed repairs and not leaving a future administration with a high burden of debt. 

Councilwoman Deedy Johnson-Reid asked the mayor if some of the funding for the project could be allocated for a maintenance program so that the roads being repaired won’t fall into a dismal state again. 

“What’s lacking is a maintenance program,” DeCourt said. “This will take care of the roads that are crumbling but what’s lacking is a maintenance program. We can’t borrow enough money for what needs repair and still have enough for maintenance.”

The mayor added that the program would also try to stay away from coating roads, due to the short-term benefits of those kinds of projects. 

“Coating roads and resurfacing are totally different concepts,” Councilman Dustin Suire said. “We want to get to the bottom.”

Suire added that local residents have been citing road repair as a top priority in the city, and he was excited to see the program come to fruition. 

“We just had to get our finances to a point to get there,” DeCourt said. “We are there and this is a big start for a road program.”

Engineers that were hired to survey New Iberia roads are currently tracking some of the most dangerous in the city. DeCourt said the engineers are expected to make a report in July or August with a list of roads that will then be selected for repairs. 

“You will all have input,” DeCourt said, referring to the council. “I think the sound way to do this is to bring you the worst safety hazards and go from there.”