Pointe Coupee May Increase Service Rates

NEW ROADS, La. (AP) — Pointe Coupee Parish residents may pay more for some parish services next year if the police jury chooses to adopt rate increases to help offset shortfalls in its proposed 2013 operating budget.

Those increases include a 10 percent hike for residential natural gas service and a 4 percent increase in garbage collection fees.

The Advocate reports (http://bit.ly/11DdTVB ) the jury is also poised to adopt a $5 per month drainage impact fee, bringing the total estimated increase to about $6 per customer.

Juror Cornell Dukes said Tuesday the rate increases would be a temporary fix to the police jury's looming budget problems.

Dukes said the best way to address budget shortfalls is to present voters with a request to raise the parish's millage rate.