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LUS postpones $70M bond issue; Fiber reimbursement complete

Posted at 7:08 PM, May 01, 2018
and last updated 2018-05-01 20:08:50-04

Lafayette Utilities System has postponed a $70 million bond issue to pay for sewer and electric upgrades.

The Lafayette City-Parish Council earlier this year authorized LUS to issue up to that amount in bonds for projects that would have included electric and sewer expansions.

That item was scheduled for the State Bond Commission meeting on April 19, but the agenda shows LUS withdrew the item from consideration.

LUS Director Terry Huval told KATC that they decided against moving forward with the bond effort during the budget planning process, which is now underway. He said the system has enough cash on hand to continue working on ongoing projects until the proposal is again brought before the Bond Commission, likely later this year.

Huval on Tuesday also gave the Lafayette Public Utilities Authority a recap of what led to the now-ongoing Public Service Commission audit of LUS Fiber.

LUS Fiber has reimbursed LUS the $1.7 million the utilities system paid for fiber connections that never were put to use.

"LUS Fiber was profitable before we noticed this, and it was profitable after," Huval said.

He said the payments for those connections, which happened from 2011 to this year, totaled less than 1 percent of the LUS Fiber budget.

"It’s not going to have a noticeable impact on our expansion, because we always keep enough of a hedge to be able to provide to make sure that we have all of the coverage we need for whatever happens," Huval said.