Lafayette Needs Revenue

Lafayette City-Parish President Joey Durel said last week that Lafayette’s city sales tax isn’t generating enough revenue to fully fund the $215 million bond package approved by voters last year.

In his annual state of the parish speech, Durel said he expects $152 million of the debt will be issued over the next several years as revenues accumulate and existing bonds mature.

Aggravating the financial situation in the combined city-parish government is a funding gap between the city’s revenues and available funding for the incorporated areas of the parish, Durel said.

The city will receive $238 million in sales tax revenues over the next five years, he said, but the unincorporated areas can generate only $867,000 during that period.

Lafayette Parish has one of the lowest property tax millages in Louisiana, Durel said, noting that the local levy is less than half that of St. Tammany Parish.

Moody’s Investors Service has an A1 underlying rating on the city’s sales tax debt and a Aa3 on the parish’s GOs. Standard & Poor’s rates the city’s sale tax debt AA-minus and the parish’s GOs A-plus.

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