Sulphur to share water revenue with Carlyss
Last Modified: Thursday, July 12, 2012 11:35 AM
By Johnathan Manning / American Press
Sulphur will share some of the water revenue it receives from the land it is annexing along the new frontage road south of Interstate 10.
The City Council on Monday voted to move forward with an agreement that would pay Waterworks District 9, which encompasses Carlyss, 7 1/2 percent of water revenues garnered from the land over the next 12 years.
The agreement is necessary because the district is a protected special district.
The waterworks board received a copy of the agreement Monday, but wants its attorney to look it over before moving forward, chairman Larry Mouton said.
He said an agreement is “absolutely” going to be made, but the board “just wanted to make sure that we’re talking about just that area.”
The land was annexed for the events center being built and for future development by the Sulphur Group.
“It’s hard to swallow giving up 7 percent over a 12-year period,” Mayor Chris Duncan told the council Monday.
“We’ve met with the (Calcasieu Parish) Police Jury, we compromised with the Police Jury,” he said. “Now it’s up to us and Water Works District No. 9 to move it forward. We don’t want to hold up any economic development in that area. It’s coming to a point where water and sewer needs to be laid out there.”
Duncan, Fire Chief Danny Dupre and City Attorney Mitch Redd stressed the importance of controlling water to the area to protect Sulphur’s fire rating.
The water district has no infrastructure in place on the annexed land, Mouton said.
Mouton said the water district was protected in a time when it was small and unable to support itself, so that “somebody couldn’t just come in and jump in without us getting the taxation.”
“When we first started we had a hard time surviving,” he said. “We didn’t have enough customers to even pay the interest on the bonds, much less the notes.”
The water district eventually became solvent, he said.
Mouton said he foresees that the legislation will eventually be changed.
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