Drainage district asks voters for property tax renewal

Even for long-time Louisiana residents, the terminology is dense and obscure: a 2.5-mill renewal for St. Mary Consolidated Gravity Drainage District No. 2.
What it means, district officials say, is keeping Morgan City dry.
The district’s tax proposition, which would continue the property levy that provides a fifth to a quarter of the district’s $800,000 annual budget, will be decided by district voters March 28. Early voting starts Saturday and runs for a week.
The district has a new board and an old task: protecting Morgan City from flooding via levees and a system of pump stations.
Board member Jean Paul Bourg said that when the pump stations are needed, city government workers man the pump stations during business hours on weekdays. The district pays for the jobs on nights and weekends.
The district hopes to install hurricane-proof storm rooms at four pump stations, providing protection for the pump station workers as well as for other emergency service crews.
Another upcoming project is a new levee from the eastern part of town along Lake Palourde to a point connecting with the federal levee system in northwest Morgan City.
The project should offer flood protection and keep flood insurance rates as low as possible.
“It’s not about getting the water out,” Bourg said. “It’s about getting the water out quickly.”