• By ROBERT R. JONES III
• Special to The Advocate
• Published: Sep 22, 2009 - Page: 2BA

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ABBEVILLE — The Vermilion Parish Police Jury was informed Monday there were no major objections to the 2009 tax year assessments.

Gabe Marceaux, of the parish Assessor’s Office, told the jury there were calls concerning questions, but no outright objections to real and personal property assessments.

“There was a $17 million assessed value increase (parish-wide), which was adjusted to $16 million after the homestead exemption,” he said, adding the major assessment increases came in wards 1, 4 and 7 due to a number of factors, including oil rigs, oil and gas pipelines, increases in real and personal property and increased sales of watercraft.

In other business, Vermilion Soil and Water Conservation District officials asked the jurors to encourage their constituents to participate in a federal project to improve wastewater runoff in the Kaplan area near La. 14 and Kaplan High school.

Conservation District President Ernest Girouard said if enough landowners sign up, the Coulee Baton Microwatershed Rural Sewer System Improvement Project would help residents repair or replace their septic tank systems to bring them up to federal standards at a cost of only 10 percent of the job, typically about $350.

“These projects usually cost $3,000 to $3,500, so the cost to the homeowner would be only about $300,” he said.

“It is a deal of a lifetime to bring about 50 percent of the homes (in the area) up to specs.”

The project, designed to encompass about 6,400 acres, will be funded with $450,000 in federal funds, pending adequate participation from the landowners.

Conservation District official Mitzi Dohrman said landowners would have to use one of three septic systems, which would minimize runoff in the local clay soil, and use gravel to further filter water exiting septic systems and allow the waste to be used to fertilize nearby vegetation.

The program was originally a 60 percent-40 percent split in favor of the landowners, but after a low local response, the state Department of Environmental Quality offered the parish a 90 percent-10 percent cost-sharing split in favor of the landowners.