LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) — Residents of Lafayette Parish head to the polls Saturday to vote on three propositions.

The first, Lafayette Consolidated government is asking voters again for renewals of a 2.34-Mill property tax that funds the courthouse, and the second is a 2.6-Mill property tax to maintain the jail. Both were on the ballot back in April and Failed.

On Saturday LCG is also is asking voters to redirect funding from another existing property tax to repair the city’s drainage infrastructure, and to allocate money for the ‘CREATE’ initiative to boost the parish’s cultural and tourism. This will not cost he voters any extra money.

“We think it’s logical and makes sense, and I think it’s a better use of those tax dollars, instead of going into a surplus savings account and so that’s the main vote for Saturday,” said Lafayetter Mayor-President Joel Robideaux.

He’s making a plea to Lafayette Parish voters to re-dedicate existing funds to help solve some of the drainage issues in the Parish.

“We think that money can be spent better elsewhere. Rather than just building a big savings account that’s already $10 million in for those three entities, let’s put $2.5 million of that money annually for drainage, and let’s put a half million dollars as seed money, into what is our second largest economic driver, our cultural economy,” Robideaux said.

He states that the money would be used for operating maintenance of clearing out coolies and to help address a backlog of work that needs to be done in relation to drainage.

“That 71/2 million a year will go to 10 million a year. It’s not this panaseum, it’s not going to solve all of our drainage problems by any stretch, but it should improve the situation. It should allow us to then review upcoming rain events and see how the cleaning of these coolies affect certain neighborhoods, and then being able to make a better decision moving forward,” said Robideaux.

The Mayor-President knows it’s a short term goal in going from $7.5 to $10 million a year on drainage, and to mainatain the 600-plus miles of coolies in the Parish, but is not for the long haul.

“It’s clearly not a solution, because ultimately we can only drain as much as the Vermilion River allows us to drain,” he said.

But the proposal isn’t sitting well with some.

“We don’t know what government’s going to do with this money, that they’re going to get from the property millage rededication,” said Mark Pope, who is against the proposed re-dedication of the funds.

He says there’s been no transparency regarding looping the ‘CREATE’ initiative into the millage re-dedication for drainage in the Parish.

“The initiative was not honestly presented to the people, it’s wasteful and an unnecessary expansion of government and the document is very hard to understand,” said Pope.

He believes that the initiative to boost the cultural economy of Lafayette is worthless and citizens are being tricked.

“Numerous organizations already exist that promote and support tourism, the arts and everything in the ‘CREATE’ initiative,” Pope stated.

Robideaux confirms that LCG watned ot reallocate the money to spend it in a better way. He says he thinks it’s best to break it down into 1 ballot initiative instead of 3 for the voters on Saturday.

“It’s already the fifth thing we’re asking people to go into the booth and vote on. Since it’s all coming from one single source, the public health unit, it made sense to list all of that in the ballot language and say this is where it’s coming from, and these are the 2 places we want it to go,” he said.

Given the state of the economy and the oil and gas industry, Robideaux sees this initiative as essential for the future of creating jobs within the Hub City.

“So the cultural economy is our number two economy. A little bit of investment, a little bit of seed money to grow that,make that our number one economic driver, it’s certainly worth the effort to try,” he said.

Voting for the 3 initiatives and treasure’s race begins SAturday from 7 a.m. and runs until 8 p.m.

For more information on what will be on the ballot, visit the Secretary of State’s website.