Ask a legal question, get an answer ASAP!
Click here to chat with a lawyer about your rights.

A.  Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, specifically La. Rev. Stat. 48:573 and La. Rev. Stat. 48:590, the governing authority of St. Landry Parish is hereby authorized to establish a road district, and such district shall become effective upon approval by a majority of the registered voters of St. Landry Parish voting on the proposition at an election held for that purpose in accordance with the Louisiana Election Code.  The district shall be comprised of St. Landry Parish in its entirety.

B.(1)  The district shall be known and designated as the St. Landry Parish Road District, hereinafter referred to as the “district”.  The district shall be governed by a board of seven commissioners which shall be known as the Board of Commissioners of the St. Landry Parish Road District, hereinafter referred to as the “board”.  The commissioners of the board shall be appointed by the governing authority of St. Landry Parish.

(2)(a)  The commissioners initially appointed shall have terms of office as follows:

(i)  Two commissioners for one year.

(ii)  Two commissioners for two years.

(iii)  Two commissioners for three years.

(iv)  One commissioner for four years.

(b)  The length of the term of each individual appointed shall be determined by lot at the first meeting of the board.

(c)  The members shall serve until their successors have been appointed and qualified.

(d)  The terms of commissioners of the board appointed upon the expiration of the initial terms shall be three years, and upon expiration of a term of office, the successor shall be appointed by the governing authority of the parish.

(e)  Any vacancy which occurs prior to the expiration of a term for which a member of the board has been appointed shall be filled by appointment in the same manner as the original appointment and shall be for the unexpired term.

C.(1)  As soon as practical after the appointment, the board shall meet and elect from their number a chairman, a vice chairman, a secretary, a treasurer, and such other officers as it may consider appropriate.

(2)  The minute books and archives of the board shall be maintained by the board’s secretary.  The monies, funds, and accounts of the district shall be in the official custody and control of the board’s treasurer.

(3)  The duties of the officers shall be fixed by bylaws adopted by the board.  The board shall adopt such rules and regulations as it considers necessary or advisable for conducting its business and affairs and, to the extent that funds are available, shall hire such assistants and employees as are needed to assist the board in the performance of its duties.  The board shall hold regular meetings as shall be provided in the bylaws and may hold special meetings at such times and places within the district as may be prescribed in the bylaws.

D.(1)  The district shall be considered a political subdivision of the state of Louisiana, and is granted and shall have all the powers necessary to construct, acquire, operate, and maintain roads, bridges, and drainage facilities in the parish, and, without limitation, shall have all the rights, powers, and authority enumerated for road districts in Part II of Chapter 2 of Title 48.

(2)  In addition, and without limitation, the board shall have the following powers:

(a)  To levy and collect within said district, a tax not exceeding one percent upon the sale at retail, the use, the lease or rental, the consumption, and the storage for use or consumption of tangible personal property and upon the sale of services, as presently defined in La. Rev. Stat. 47:301 through 317.  Except where inapplicable, the procedure established by La. Rev. Stat. 47:301 through 317 shall be followed in the imposition, collection, and enforcement of said tax, and any procedural details necessary to be established to supplement the provisions of said Sections and to make said provisions applicable to the tax imposed hereunder shall be fixed by resolution of the board.  The board shall have the right to contract with the sheriff or the Department of Revenue of the state of Louisiana, or any other agency or political subdivision, for the collection of the tax.¹  The board shall set forth the purposes for which the proceeds of the tax are to be used in the proposition submitted at the election hereinafter required, and such proceeds may be funded into negotiable bonds.

(i)  The resolution imposing such tax shall be adopted by the governing authority of St. Landry Parish only after the question of the imposition of such tax and the funding thereof into bonds under the provisions of this Section shall have been submitted to the qualified electors of the parish at an election to be called, conducted, canvassed, and promulgated by the governing authority of the district in accordance with the general laws of the state of Louisiana governing the authorization of general obligation bonds of the parish, and the majority of the qualified electors voting in such election shall have voted in favor of such additional tax and the funding thereof into bonds.

(ii)  The resolution imposing any tax hereunder, or amendments hereto, shall specify that the avails or proceeds of the tax after payment of collection cost shall be used by the district for construction, acquisition, operation, and maintenance of the roads, bridges, or drainage facilities of the district.  The question or proposition approved at said election shall constitute a full and complete dedication of the avails or proceeds of said tax, and its provisions shall control the allocation and expenditure thereof.

(b)  To levy on all taxable property within the district an ad valorem tax not to exceed fifteen mills, provided said district has received prior approval for the levy of such millage by a vote of the qualified electors within the district at an election called by the board for the purpose of constructing, acquiring, operating, and maintaining the roads, bridges, and drainage facilities of the district.

(c)  Repealed by Acts 2010, No. 546, §2, eff. June 25, 2010.

(d)  To construct any necessary improvements to drainage facilities from immediate road surfaces.

(e)  To prepare, adopt, promulgate, amend, and repeal bylaws, orders, rules, regulations, policies, forms, and procedures to govern the affairs and the conduct of its business and to carry out its functions in order to effectuate the provisions of this Section.

(f)  To perform any other necessary and ancillary acts to effectuate its functions, to perform its duties, or to give effect to its powers in accordance with this Section.

E.(1)  Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, upon the district becoming effective, the parish road districts created pursuant to La. Rev. Stat. 48:600, 600.1, 600.2, 600.3 and 600.4 shall be absorbed into the district and shall be subject to the provisions of this Section.

(2)  The district shall be the successor to any district absorbed pursuant to this Subsection.  All unfinished business, documents, liens against property for unpaid taxes, money, movable, and immovable property, and books and records of the absorbed road districts shall be transferred to and become the responsibility and property of the district.  Any legal proceeding to which the district is a party and which is filed, initiated, or pending before any court on the effective date of abolition and all documents involved in or affected by said legal proceeding shall retain their effectiveness and shall be continued in the name of the district.  All obligations of the absorbed districts shall become the obligations of the St. Landry Parish Road District.

(3)  Until such time as the district proposes a parish wide tax and it is approved by voters as provided in Subsection D, the district shall continue to levy the ad valorem and sales taxes authorized by the electorate of each former district, and the revenues generated in each former district must be utilized for benefit of that former district.

F.  Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, upon the district becoming effective, the parish governing authority shall create drainage districts having boundaries coterminous with the boundaries of the road districts being absorbed.  Such drainage districts shall have all the powers provided by law to construct, acquire, operate and maintain drainage facilities in their respective districts.

Acts 1992, No. 1001, §1; Acts 1995, No. 895, §1; Acts 1995, No. 975, §1; Acts 1997, No. 58, §2; Acts 2010, No. 546, §§1, 2, eff. June 25, 2010.

¹NOTE:  See La. Const. Art. VII, Sec. 3(B).