LAFAYETTE, La. (The Daily Advertiser) – After hundreds of Lafayette Parish homes flooded in August and a near-miss last weekend, is it time for Lafayette Consolidated Government to consider asking voters to approve a new tax dedicated to parish wide drainage?

Lafayette Mayor-President Joel Robideaux suggested as much in an interview Monday with The Daily Advertiser.

The Youngsville area was hit particularly hard in August, and some homes nearly flooded again over the weekend due to heavy rainfall. Mayor Ken Ritter said in a news conference he’s tired of hearing from Lafayette Consolidated Government that it has no money to clean coulees and major drainage channels that may be contributing to Youngsville’s flooding problems.

“We’re going to have to meet as a parish and have some tough discussions,” Robideaux said later Monday. “Are we going to reallocate some revenue we have?”

That could mean less money for other services such as criminal justice and fire protection, he said.

“We have to decide if we’re going to go to the public to ask for more specific funding as it relates to drainage,” Robideaux added.

Property owners throughout the parish, in cities, in towns and in unincorporated areas, all pay a 3.34-mill property tax dedicated to drainage maintenance parish wide. That money is used to maintain 600 miles of channels, Public Works Director Tom Carroll said Tuesday. At least twice a year, main coulees and channels are sprayed with an herbicide to kill vegetation that could affect drainage, he said.

In 2006, under the administration of former City-Parish President Joey Durel, voters defeated a proposed tax that would fund capital improvements, including roads and drainage projects. That tax “failed miserably,” Robideaux said Monday.

But, he suggested, it may be time to try again.

“It’s amazing how time and events change everything. I would think the public would be at least somewhat receptive to having that conversation now,” Robideaux said.