A citizen committee is considering a recommendation that the Lafayette City-Parish Council ask voters either for a new, temporary sales tax or increased property taxes to fund road and bridge projects.

The Lafayette Consolidated Government’s Future Needs/Funding Sources Committee is struggling with how to present the proposal to voters so they realize the “critical nature” of the situation, Chairman Chad Hanks said.

While the city of Lafayette isn’t exactly flush with money, it does have some money to spend, Public Works Director Kevin Blanchard said.

The situation in unincorporated parts of Lafayette Parish is a different story. Blanchard said the way projects are addressed in the parish is like triage: Which “patient” is closest to death and which one can LCG afford to work on.

“We have roads in the parish that are going to revert to gravel pretty soon,” Blanchard said.

The parish had only $300,000 in 2014-15 to overlay roads, enough to repair half a road, he said.

The condition of some bridges also is reaching the critical stage. A bridge in Maurice on the Vermilion and Lafayette parish line was closed because of disrepair, Blanchard said. Public works staffers are concerned four more bridges will have to be closed to vehicular traffic in the coming fiscal year that begins Nov. 1.

Some bridges in the city of Lafayette are in dire need of repair, too. The city shut down a bridge at University Place Apartments on or near the University of Louisiana at Lafayette campus, Blanchard said.

“It’s one rain event from falling over,” he said.

Property owners in the city of Lafayette pay a tax for street maintenance and part of a sales tax collected in the city is used to build roads and bridges in the city.

A property tax for Lafayette Parish is collected parishwide, including the city of Lafayette and other municipalities in the parish. But it’s only spent in unincorporated parts of the parish, Blanchard said.

Residents in the city of Lafayette aren’t getting their fair share, committee member Jerry Prejean said.

But residents of unincorporated Lafayette Parish drive those roads to get to Lafayette and spend their money, committee member Scott Hayes said.

Some residents in the city of Lafayette travel roads and bridges in unincorporated Lafayette Parish to get to jobs outside the city, Councilman Jay Castille said.

When LCG starts closing bridges along their commute routes, people will start to realize how critical the need is, just like residents in flood-prone areas are beginning to understand the need to pay for improved drainage, Castille said.

The committee also is considering asking the City-Parish Council to establish three to five special drainage districts with the authority to levy property taxes. Revenue generated by the tax in each district would be spent only in that district, Hanks said.Existing taxes for roads and bridges

Parishwide: 4.17-mill property tax for roads and bridges, generates $7.9 million per year

City of Lafayette: 1.29-mill property tax for street maintenance, generates $1.7 million per year

City of Lafayette: 2-cent sales tax; 65 percent (about $53 million per year) is dedicated to capital projects like roads and bridges.Source: LCG Future Needs/Funding Sources Committee