A federal disaster declaration for St. Mary Parish, made in the wake of July’s Hurricane Barry, will now be extended to four other parishes, including St. Martin Parish.
Parish President Chester Cedars, speaking at the Oct. 1 parish council meeting, said the new declaration could result in the receipt of FEMA funds equaling 75 percent of the parish’s Barry-related outlays. The change was made in response to requests from Governor John Bel Edwards and officials of the affected parishes.
An Oct. 2 press release from the governor indicates that St. Martin Parish is eligible to apply for assistance with expenses incurred in storm preparation and debris removal. Cedars said he hopes to get costs for repair of submerged roads added to that list. Some Lower St. Martin Parish roads were submerged for as long as three months.
Eligibility for relief under the original declaration included only St. Mary Parish, for expenses connected to the deployment of the Bayou Chene backflood-prevention barge. The barge was moved into place after the decision to open the Morganza Spillway was announced, but that announcement spurred preparation and the storm caused recovery costs in St. Martin Parish as well. Cedars estimates that Barry-related expenses to the parish totalled about $460,000.
Budgets Presented
The council acknowledged receipt of the Sinking Fund and Capital Outlay budgets for 2020. Cedars commended Financial Director Sean Hunley, Director of Administration Calder Hebert and the administrative staff for their hard work in preparing the budgets ahead of schedule.
The council also conducted a public hearing on property tax assessments presented by Assessor Todd Dugas. He credited the Bayou Bridge Pipeline project with improving assessments and reported that there were no contested assessments this year.
The project provided $10 million of the $11 million increase in total assessments. The commercial machinery and
equipment assessments would otherwise have been down by $6 million from last year. Du-
gas added that the sub-
stantial boost in building, equipment and inventory assessments from the opening of Gander Outdoors in Breaux Bridge will not appear on the books until next year.
The Council also:
•Adopted a resolution authorizing Cedars to execute a contract with Huval and Associates for the removal of the Butte LaRose pontoon bridge and construction of a permanent replacement.
•Approved an ordinance to enter into an intergovernmental agreement with the Village of Parks for the use of a tract of land adjacent to the Parks Elementary School for use in youth recreational projects.
•Tabled an ordinance to remove the area north of I-10 in Breaux Bridge from Special Taxing District No. One, at the request of the city.
•Approved resolutions accepting the property tax assessments, authorizing the submission to the state of Capital Outlay Budget requests, to include the Joe Daigre Drainage Canal improvement projects, and submission to the DOTD of
the parish highway con-
struction priorities list for 2020-2021.
Finally, the month of October was declared
Domestic Violence Aware
ness Month, National
Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Head Start Awareness Month and Dysautonomia Awareness Month, and the week of Oct. 6-12 was declared Fire Prevention Week.
