LAPLACE — Protection of St. John the Baptist Parish’s shorelines and coastal areas were high priorities during a council meeting this past Tuesday in LaPlace, as all eyes were focused on a developing tropical system in the Gulf of Mexico.

Council members authorized the administration to advertise for a Request for Qualifications for professional engineering services for the Lake Pontchartrain Shoreline Protection Project and adopted a resolution to proceed with issuing bonds worth $9.5 million to address coastal restoration and other projects.

The bond and the shoreline protection are being funded through the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act. The shoreline project will include breakwater structures for protection along the shore of Lake Pontchartrain.

The $9.5 million in bonds will be guaranteed by the GOMESA funds and present no risk to the parish, bond attorney Jason Akers of Foley & Judell L.L.C. in New Orleans said. He said issuing the bonds is a unique opportunity for the parish to combine future GOMESA funding into one large project to be completed at no cost.

He explained that in 2018, the parish received $575,000 in GOMESA funding. The federal government allocated approximately $629,000 for 2019, he said, adding that number could be trimmed downward. Akers said rather than annually collecting the smaller amounts to fund smaller projects, issuing the bonds presents opportunity to complete a much bigger project.

The annual GOMESA allocations will be used to pay off the bonds, and if for some reason Congress allocates no money, the parish has no fiscal responsibility to the bond holders. Rather, bondholders will get paid when Congress eventually releases the allocated funding.

He said Tangipahoa, Livingston, St. Martin and Terrebonne parishes taken also advantage of the fiscal program.

The funding is an excellent opportunity “to get a good chunk of money to do a bigger project,” Akers said. “If the funding doesn’t materialize, you don’t have to shoulder the burden to the bond holders. You have your money; you are doing your project.”

Financial advisor Shaun Toups from Government Consultants told council members the bond issue is an effective way to guarantee money for projects, saying it shifts the risk to the bondholders. He also explained the $9.5 million is the maximum amount of money the parish can leverage based on projected future allocations.

Parish chief financial officer Robert Figuero said the money has yet to be earmarked for any specific project, but Akers specified the money can only be used on such projects as coastal restoration protection, onshore construction projects designed to mitigate shelf drilling and mitigation of loss of habitat or marine life.

Funding could also be used for the massive $760 million levee system scheduled to be built along Lake Pontchartrain expected to be completed in 2024.

When Councilman Larry Sorapuru inquired about the potential for using funding for canal work, Akers said that each project would have to be looked at individually.

“These are very specific projects,” Akers said.

Akers several more meetings will be scheduled but the funds could be received by October.

 

By Richard Meek, contributing writer