Could a Louisiana town pay to install water, sewer, or gas lines on private land?

Plain-English summary

The Town of Maringouin asked whether it could pay to install sewer, water, and gas lines on private property. In Opinion 03-0043, the Louisiana Attorney General answered no. He read Article 7, Section 14 of the Louisiana Constitution as barring a donation of public funds to another person when the public entity was under no obligation to make the expenditure.

The opinion applied that rule to the town's proposed work for a private owner. It also pointed to two earlier AG opinions concerning municipal payment for sewer installation or connections benefiting private landowners. The letter gave no broader analysis of a town's own utility facilities or a circumstance in which the town had a legal obligation to perform the work.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2003. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

What the opinion meant at issuance

Municipal officials and utilities

For the proposal put to the AG, the town could not spend public money to install the lines on private property. The opinion identified the missing public obligation and the resulting private benefit as the reason the spending was a prohibited donation.

Private property owners

The opinion addressed a town-funded installation on private land. It did not discuss an owner-funded connection or decide who must pay under a utility-service arrangement.

Common questions

Q: Could Maringouin pay for water, sewer, and gas lines on a resident's land?
A: The AG said no on the facts presented. The town had no stated obligation to make that private-property improvement, so public payment would be a prohibited donation.

Q: Did the opinion cover every kind of utility extension?
A: No. It answered the proposed installation on private property at municipal expense and cited earlier opinions about sewer service benefiting private landowners.

Background and statutory framework

The town's mayor requested the opinion. The AG quoted the state constitution's ban on the loan, pledge, or donation of public funds and said a public expenditure for another person's benefit without an obligation to spend was a donation. The first-page date is damaged in the extracted text, so the exact issue date is left blank.

Citations and references

Authority in the opinion: Article 7, Section 14 of the Louisiana Constitution; Atty. Gen. Op. Nos. 00-82 and 00-485.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/03-0043

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain — the linked PDF is authoritative.

~t~t~ o~ ~o~i~n~
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
One American Place
301 Mare Street, Suite 600
CIVIL DIVISION
P.O. Box 94005
BATON ROUGE
TEL.: (225) 342-7013
FAX: (225) 342-2090
RICHARD P. IEYOUB
70804-9005
ATTORNEY GENERAL

FEB ,9] 2003
Opinion Number 03-0043

71 Municipalities
90-A-2 Public Funds - Loan, Pledge or Grants Honorable John F. Overton
Mayor, Town of Maringouin
Town of Maringouin may not use public funds to
P.O. Box 10
benefit private property.
Maringouin, LA 70757

Dear Mayor Overton:

The Town of Maringouin questions if it may install, at its expense, sewer, water, and gas lines on private property.

It is our opinion that the Town of Maringouin may not do so. Article 7, Section 14 of the Louisiana Constitution prohibits the loan, pledge, or donation of public funds to any person, assoc, iation or corporation. The use of public funds by a public entity for the benefit of someone else when it is under no obligation to do so is a donation and is therefore prohibited by the constitution. We previously opined that municipalities could not use public funds to benefit a private landowner, specifically in the instance of installing or connecting sewer services.1

We trust that this adequately responds to your request. If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact our office.

With kindest regards,

Yours very truly,

RICHARD P. IEYOUB
Attorney General

, f.---- .

TINA VICARI GRANT
Assistant Attorney General

RPI/TVG/dam

Atty. Gen. Op. Nos. 00-82, 00-485.