By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

VACHERIE — State health officials offered some new information to St. James Parish Council members last week on the status of the parish’s substandard residential sewer system.

New numbers from the state’s Sanitarian Events Tracking System show a large amount of sewage disposal systems in the parish are not approved and not sanitary. A representative from the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals provided details during a briefing to council members at their last meeting.

David Boggs, a spokesperson for the state agency, said DHH supports any actions or plans by the parish to implement a parishwide system for sewage waste disposal. Boggs said DHH is “more than willing to offer assistance when it comes to improving the quality of life of current and future St. James Parish residents.”

According to the statistics Boggs provided, about 2,600 residential sewage disposal systems are not approved and not sanitary in St. James Parish. In addition, only about 2,500 households in the parish are controlled under a community sewage system.

St. James Parish President Dale Hymel Jr. said in May the Parish Council created a sewer committee to come up with a plan for a parishwide sewer system with a price tag of about $120 million. He said funding for the system would likely come from new sales and property taxes.

Hymel said an 8-mill property tax along with an additional 1-cent parish sales tax could fund construction of the new system. Hymel said the parish wants to see the proposals on the Nov. 2 general election ballot, but the council must take some action to add them at its next meeting, scheduled for Aug. 4 in Convent.

Hymel said the council might consider waiting to move on the tax proposals until more progress is made in the St. James Parish Comprehensive Master Plan.

The parish is cooperating with the South Central Planning and Development Commission to compile a master plan for land use and future growth. A committee of 19 parish residents began the process in March. The committee is currently conducting focus group meetings with residents on both sides of the Mississippi River.

“If sewage becomes a top priority of residents, we will consider calling the election for the taxes since it would be much more likely to pass,” Hymel said.

Hymel said in 2008, parish voters opposed a proposed 1-cent sales tax dedicated to funding a new sewer system.