Broussard Mayor Speaks Out On Waterline Situation

Does the city of Broussard owe Lafayette $800,000 for unpaid water? Mayor Charles Langlinais speaks out. KPEL's Nathan Pike has the story.

In a press release, Langlinais says construction of the water meter in question at the intersection of Albertson's Parway and LA 89 was inspected and approved by an LUS employee back in 2006. Readings were then supposed to be taken by LUS and a bill generated every month.

"If Lafayette has been pumping water into Broussard without the water passing through a Lafayette water meter, Broussard has no explanation for how this could have gone on for five years," Langlinais says.

"Broussard assumes that the meter box was being checked every month by LUS employees," he says.

Langlinais says he was first told there might be a problem with the line on September 28th. He says LUS was supposed to give Broussard an estimate of the water used and then allow for the city to double check their records. It was agreed that if Broussard's figures matched that of LUS, a check would be written.

"As soon as we determined that our figures agreed, we told them that Broussard will write a check and pay for that amount of water the same day," Langlinais says.

But then Lafayette sent them the $800,000 bill, which Langlinais says is based on faulty assumptions.

Langlinais says LUS's estimates are based on a straight line calculation of 8.5 million gallons per month, starting in 2006. But the Broussard mayor says there's a problem with that reasoning.

"There has been very little development along that stretch of Albertson's Parkway until recently," Langlinais says, "so the amount of water served will be much lower in the first two to three years as compared to the last few years."

Langlinais says he wants a public apology from LUS Director Terry Huval.