Jefferson Parish voters to consider sewerage tax renewal in May 4 ballot

Jefferson Parish voters will decide May 4 whether to renew an $8.7 million-a-year property tax to run and maintain the sewerage system

Jefferson Parish voters will decide May 4 whether to renew an $8.7 million-a-year property tax to run and maintain the sewerage system. The tax, first approved in 1993 and renewed a decade ago, would also finance $35 million in repairs to aging pipes and treatment plants, officials said.

The sewerage tax is among four millage renewals on the May 4 ballot. Voters will also consider renewing property taxes for the water system, public education, and fire protection in the Terrytown and Timberlane areas in West Jefferson. Early voting will take place April 20-27.

Property owners in unincorporated Jefferson Parish and the town of Jean Lafitte pay the sewerage tax. The money provides one third of the budget to run and maintain the parish's six sewerage treatment plants, and a network of 500 sewer lift stations and more than 3,000 miles of underground pipes.

The system was built in pieces, as Jefferson Parish developed haphazardly and without a master plan. That makes its maintenance expensive, Sewerage Director Linda Daly said. New Orleans, for example, has to maintain only 83 sewer lift stations, a fraction of Jefferson's number.

Sewerage fees among lowest in the region

The other two thirds of Jefferson's sewerage budget comes from fees paid by home and business owners that are calculated based on water consumption. Parish officials said the property tax helps keep sewerage rates among the lowest in the region. A family of four, which uses an average 8,000 gallons of water a month, pays $16.27 a month for sewerage in Jefferson Parish. The same usage cost $27.39 a month in Kenner and $50.97 in New Orleans, parish officials said, a figure that doesn't factor in ongoing Sewerage and Water Board rate hikes.

Jefferson Parish voters authorized the sewerage tax at 5 mills in 2003, but the Parish Council lowered the rate to 3.58 in recent years in order to avoid getting a windfall from rising property values. If voters approve the tax renewal, the council could set it at 5 mills or less.

At 5 mills, the tax would cost $12.50 a year for an owner-occupied $100,000 house, $62.50 for one valued at $200,000 and $112.50 for one valued at $300,000. For businesses, the tax would be $75 on one valued at $100,000, $225 on one valued at $300,000 and $375 for one valued at $500,000.

The tax renewal also is key to borrowing $35 million at .95 percent interest rate for 20 years for improvements to treatment plants and pipes, said Public Works Director Kazem Alikhani. The parish is borrowing the money through a state Department of Environmental Quality program, and state officials are factoring in revenues from the sewerage tax to estimate the parish's ability to pay back the loan.

"They don't feel that we can pay back without this millage," Daly said.

Parish officials said the proposed repairs are important to avoid a state or federal consent order - a mandate to conduct more extensive repairs to the sewerage system. The parish, however, has faced three so-called compliance orders from DEQ for sewerage problems, a process that requires repairs but gives the parish more discretion than a consent order.

Parish President John Young and Council Chairman Chris Roberts urged voters to approved the millage, saying it's needed to maintain services at current levels and to avoid more drastic regulatory actions.

"Without the millage you can't pay for repairs, and not doing those upgrades comes with consequences," Roberts said.

Voters in Jefferson generally renew existing taxes dedicated to specific infrastructure work or government functions, such as the sewerage tax. No citizen and business group has voiced any organized opposition to the renewal.

But some parish officials are concerned that the May 4 ballot also includes the referendum on the Crescent City Connection tolls. Opponents of the tolls successfully challenged in court the results of a November election at which the tolls were narrowly approved. Toll opponents are expected to be energized this time around, and Daly said she worried some voters might go down the ballot rejecting other items, including the sewerage tax.

"I hope not," said Young, the parish president. "In the case of the tolls there was waste and mismanagement. The sewerage taxes have been managed well and are used directly to maintain the sewerage system. That's an expensive operation and this millage is needed to keep it running at current levels."

How much you would pay?

Amounts Jefferson Parish property owners would pay if a sewerage tax on the May 4 ballot is renewed and collected at its full 5 mills: