Parish using $20 million of its own money for construction of levee project

BY SUSANNE HINKLE

News Editor

HAHNVILLE – The St. Charles Parish Council recently passed a $90 million budget for the 2007 fiscal year. The budget includes various levee projects and improvements and raises for parish employees.

The council held three hearings to discuss the budget and decided to include much needed levee improvements among the allowances in the budget.

St. Charles Parish Councilman Clayton Faucheux said that the parish has no other choice than to appropriate $20 million of its $90 million budget for 2007 in order to continue the needed construction of the levee protection for the West Bank of the parish.

As the situation stands, the parish will have to foot the bill for the levee protection with local money.

&#8220We need help with our levees and we need it now,” said Councilman Brian Fabre. &#8220The parish has been left floundering without levee protection for too long. We have businesses and people to protect here. We need to get that message to Washington.”

The St. Charles Parish Council held three budget hearings where council members stood unified behind Parish President Albert Laque’s plan to use $11 million from cash reserves to get ahead on the next phase of the levee project.

The council plans to borrow the remaining $9 million and use proceeds from a 1-cent sales tax previously designated for roads and drainage to pay back the loans. &#8220This project is extremely important to the west bank of our parish,” said Laque said at the first budget hearing.

The council also supported setting aside $300,000 to be used to repair the Dunlieth Canal shore in Destrehan.