Parish president said mosquito spraying slated tonight, maybe Thursday.

By Heather Miller

The Daily Iberian

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ST. MARTINVILLE — Only one business in St. Martin Parish protested the assessment of this year’s property taxes, which did not stop the St. Martin Parish Council from accepting the assessor’s values.

Lawrence Patin, St. Martin Parish tax assessor, said at a special St. Martin Parish Council meeting Tuesday that CDM Resource Management disagreed with the property tax value of the business, but the company did not submit any reasons or evidence as to why and did not attend the council meeting to voice objections.

“I’m standing by our assessment,” he said. “We used guidelines from the state, and we have only one protest.”

Patin said the tax valuation is $293 million for St. Martin Parish, adding the increases came from the new industrial park near Cade and new construction in Breaux Bridge. The council voted unanimously to accept the tax assessor’s valuations.

In other business, Parish President Guy Cormier announced at the meeting the parish was approved for aerial mosquito spraying, which will start this evening at dusk and will finish Thursday, if necessary. The spraying includes large planes flying at low altitudes and will cover upper and lower St. Martin Parish.

“Our phone’s been ringing off the hook about the mosquito problems since the storms (hurricanes Gustav and Ike),” Cormier said. “We did the same thing for Rita, and we saw a tremendous reduction.”

Cormier said spraying will not affect any outdoor activities for St. Martin Parish residents.