Could a sheriff use a vehicle-and-equipment tax to pay deputies who drove the vehicles?

Plain-English summary

Washington Parish's sheriff asked whether a special tax reserved for law-enforcement vehicles and equipment could pay deputies' salaries because the deputies drove the vehicles. In Opinion 03-0097, the Louisiana Attorney General answered no. A special tax had to be spent exclusively for its stated purpose, and vehicle "support" did not include the driver's pay.

The opinion described forty percent of the dedicated proceeds as available to purchase, maintain, and support vehicles and equipment. It read "support" as akin to maintenance of the vehicles themselves. The AG separated those costs from compensation for deputies operating them.

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

Sheriff and finance staff

The AG said this dedicated tax could cover vehicle and equipment costs within its stated purpose. He rejected salaries of drivers as a vehicle-support cost under the described dedication.

Deputies and taxpayers

The opinion addressed which funding source could pay deputies, not whether they were owed salary. It treated the special tax's purpose as limiting spending even when the deputies' work involved the vehicles.

Common questions

Q: Could vehicle-tax proceeds cover salaries of deputies who drove patrol vehicles?
A: No. The AG said driver salaries were outside the tax's vehicle-and-equipment purpose.

Q: Did "support" of vehicles include the people operating them?
A: The AG read support as maintenance of vehicles, and maintenance did not include deputies' salaries.

Background and statutory framework

The sheriff described a special tax, forty percent of whose proceeds were dedicated to buying, maintaining, and supporting law-enforcement vehicles and equipment. The AG invoked La. R.S. 39:704 and prior opinions for the rule that special-tax proceeds must be used only for their dedicated purpose. The date stamp on this short letter is incomplete in the OCR extract, so no exact issue date is assigned.

Citations and references

Authorities in the opinion: La. R.S. 39:704; Attorney General Opinions 01-12 and 03-0049.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/03-0097

Original opinion text

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

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
One American Place
301 Main Street, Suite 600
~21VI/DIVISION
P.O. Box 94005
BATON ROUGE
TEL.: (225) 342-7013
FAX: (225) 342-2090
RICHARD P. IEYOUB
708O4-9O05
ATTORNEY GENERAL

APR 2003
Opinion Number 03-0097

50 Taxation
Mr. Aubrey Jones, Sheriff
La. R.S. 39:704
Parish of Washington
Proceeds of special tax may only be used for P.O. Box 668 its purpose.
Franklinton, LA 70438

Dear Sheriff Jones:

As outlined in your request, you question if you may use the proceeds of a special tax dedicated for the purchase, maintenance and support of law enforcement vehicles and equipment to pay the salaries of deputies who operate the vehicles.

In short, the answer to your question is no. The proceeds of a special tax must be used exclusively for its purpose.1

In this instance, forty percent of the dedicated funds are to be used to purchase, maintain and support law enforcement vehicles and equipment. You question if support includes the payment of salaries for the deputies who operate the vehicles. Support is somewhat synonymous with the term maintain. Thus, support, in this instance, in our opinion, means maintenance of the vehicles and maintenance does not include the salaries of those who drive the vehicles.

We trust this adequately responds to your request. If you have any questions, please contact our office.

Yours very truly,

RICHARD P. IEYOUB
Attorney General

BY:
TINA VICARI GRANT
Assistant Attorney General

RPI/TVG/dam

1 La. R.S. 39:704; Attorney General Opinion Nos. 01-12 and 03-0049