Council joins road tax chorus

By Todd C. Elliott
todd.elliott@eunicetoday.com

The Eunice City Council has joined the Chamber of Commerce board and the Economic Development Committee in urging passage of a rural sales tax to finance road improvements.
Council members at their October meeting passed a resolution to support the 2 cent tax to provide “A Smooth Ride Home”.
Voters in unincorporated areas of St. Landry Parish go to the polls Saturday, Oct. 19 to decide the matter.
The resolution – which was proposed in a motion  by Ward 1 Alderman Roland Miller – met with no opposition from council members.
Miller said that the proposed endeavor for a “two-cent parish tax for parish roads” has been well supported by other entities and organizations.
The 15-year tax would secure a bond issue yielding about $70 million for improving the parish’s 800 miles of mostly horrible roads.
“Other municipalities and the Economic Development Committee has been in favor of it,” said Miller. “This resolution is in support of (Parish President Bill Fontenot’s) initiative.”
The motion was seconded by Alderman-at-large Jack Burson.
“I do so, primarily, on the basis of  20 years of observations of our parish government and actually analyzing the budgets and realizing that they simply have not had the money available to properly overlay the roads in our parish,” said Burson.
“People are unaware that we have never had a parish tax devoted to parish roads, unlike our surrounding neighbors like Evangeline, Acadia and St. Martin who do have it.
“And if you want to see what the difference is, then I suggest that you ride right out of town here on the Pat-ta-sa Road – which the Acadia Parish Police Jury has over-layed – and then come back towards town on St. Mary Street if you want to know the difference.”
Fontenot has been campaigning throughout the parish in an effort to gain support for his proposed solution to the bad roads of the parish.
The two cents proposed for roads would increase the rural sales tax in St. Landry from 7.55 cents per $1 of sales to 9.55 cents, with all of the yield going to the road improvement program