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A.  The commission shall have authority, when authorized so to do by a vote of a majority in number and amount of the property taxpayers of the district qualified to vote at an election for the purpose held in accordance with law, to levy annually on all property situated within the district, subject to taxation, an ad valorem tax not to exceed three mills on the dollar.  The commission may, upon its own initiative, call a special election and submit to the qualified tax-paying voters of the district the question of authorizing the levy of such a tax.  The commission shall call such a special election when requested so to do by petition in writing signed by one-fourth of the property taxpayers in number eligible to vote at such election.  These special taxes shall be levied, assessed and collected on the property within the district under the same methods, terms and conditions and at the same time as state and parish taxes are levied, assessed and collected.  These taxes shall be secured by the same liens upon the property subject to taxation within the district as taxes for state and parish purposes.  The property subject to any taxes within said district shall be sold for failure to pay the same in the same manner as property is sold for delinquent state, parish and other taxes under the laws of the state.  

B.  The provisions of the constitution and all laws regulating the collection of taxes, the creating of tax liens and mortgages, tax penalties and tax sales also shall apply to the collection of all taxes authorized by this Section.  The sheriff and ex officio tax collector for the parish of Madison shall make a monthly settlement with the treasurer of the commission and receive from him a receipt for the amount of the taxes paid over in the same manner as tax collectors are required to settle with the comptroller of the state.  The tax collector shall receive from the treasurer the same quietus for a full settlement of taxes due and exigible in any given year and account for the delinquents or deductions in the same manner as though accounting to the comptroller of the state for state taxes.  The sheriff and ex officio tax collector shall retain from all taxes collected by him for the port area the same commission allowed thereon to him by law on special taxes and shall deposit the amount thereof with the parish treasurer to the credit of the sheriff’s salary fund.  Upon the failure of the tax collector to comply with the provisions of this Section, the commission shall proceed against him and the sureties on his official bond for the collection of whatever money may be owing to the commission for such special taxes.  

C.  With the approval of the State Bond and Tax Board, said district, through the commission as its governing authority, is authorized to incur debt for its lawful purposes and to issue negotiable bonds in its name representing the debt, and to pledge and dedicate for the payment of the principal and interest of such negotiable bonds the revenue derived from the ad valorem tax authorized by this section and/or other revenues received by the district or the commission from other sources, as may be provided by the commission in the resolution authorizing the issuance of such bonds and providing the security therefor; provided, however, that such bonds shall not be issued requiring principal and interest payments in any year in excess of eighty per cent of the tax revenues which would have been received by the district had the three mill tax been levied on the last assessment roll filed and of record.  Such bonds shall be issued by the commission with such dates, forms, terms, series, interest rates, maturities, denominations, redemption provisions and security provisions as the commission may determine in compliance with this section and the provisions of La. Const. Art. XIV, § 31 of the State of Louisiana for the year 1921, as amended.  Such bonds, when authorized to be issued, shall constitute a general obligation of the district to the payment of which the full faith and credit of the district and the commission shall be and is hereby pledged.  In addition to the pledge of said tax and/or other revenues to secure the payment of said bonds in principal and interest, the commission may further secure their payment by a conventional mortgage upon any and all of the properties constructed or acquired, or to be constructed and acquired by it from the proceeds of such bonds.  In the event any bonds are issued secured by a pledge and dedication of said tax revenues, said tax shall be levied and collected as long as said bonds are outstanding in an amount sufficient to pay such bonds in principal and interest as they respectively mature.  Any resolution authorizing the issuance of bonds of the district may contain such covenants as the commission may deem proper to assure the enforcement, collection and proper application of tax or other revenues pledged and dedicated to the payment and security of the bonds, and other security provisions including the establishment of a bond reserve if deemed advisable by the commission.  Except as specifically provided in this section, said bonds shall be issued in compliance with the requirements of La. Rev. Stat. 34:2405, La. Rev. Stat. 34:2406 and said La. Const. Art. XIV, § 31 , including the provisions for a public sale of such bonds and the thirty days prescriptive period to contest the legality of such bonds and the security therefor, all as more fully therein provided.  

Added by Acts 1966, No. 369, §1.  Amended by Acts 1968, No. 111, §1.