Could Vernon Parish pay its coroner's expenses from a tax dedicated to the parish health unit?

Plain-English summary

Vernon Parish's police jury charged salary, mileage, autopsy, transportation, and other coroner expenses to a fund supported by a three-mill property tax. In Opinion 03-0214, the AG concluded that the coroner's expenses could not be paid from that dedicated tax fund.

The ballot proposition limited the tax to improving, maintaining, and operating the Vernon Parish Health Unit and parish animal shelter. The opinion quoted La. R.S. 39:704, which reserved special-tax proceeds for the purposes for which the tax was levied. It also found nothing in the parish health-unit statute, R.S. 40:14, that would cover coroner expenses. Other health-related costs mentioned in the request were not all decided here; the AG said some uses might depend on the wording approved by voters.

Currency note

This opinion is dated July 10, 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

Parish finance officials

The AG said the voter-approved purposes governed the tax's use and excluded the listed coroner expenses. Its reasoning turned on this specific proposition for the health unit and animal shelter.

Coroner and health unit

The AG found nothing in the health-unit statute or the voter-approved tax proposition authorizing the listed coroner expenses. The request identified the General Fund as an alternative; the opinion did not analyze that fund's authority.

Common questions

Q: Could Vernon Parish pay coroner salaries and autopsy costs from the health-unit tax? A: No. The AG said the tax proposition and cited health-unit statute did not authorize coroner expenses.

Q: Why did the exact ballot proposition matter?
A: The opinion said special-tax proceeds had to be used for the objects and purposes approved by voters.

Q: Did the opinion forbid every other use of the parish health-unit fund? A: No. It mentioned earlier opinions allowing some mosquito, rabies, and inmate-health expenses in certain situations, depending on the voter-approved language.

Background and statutory framework

The parish's three-mill tax funded a parish health unit and animal shelter. The request listed coroner costs that had been charged to the health-unit fund. The AG applied La. R.S. 39:704's special-tax trust rule and R.S. 40:14's description of parish health-unit work, and cited earlier opinions on the use of dedicated tax proceeds.

Citations and references

Statutes quoted or cited: La. R.S. 39:704; R.S. 40:14.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/03-0214

Original opinion text

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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
One American Place
301 Main Street, Suite 600
CIVIl DIVISION
P.O. Box 94005
BATON ROUGE
TEL.: (225) 342-7013
RICHARD P. IEYOUB 70804-9005 FAX: (225) 342-2090 ATTORNEY GENERAL

JUL I 0 2003
OPINION NUMBER 03-0214

,90-A-1 PUBLIC FUNDS & CONTRACTS
Mr. Edwin L. Cabra
rR.S. 39:704; R.S. 40:14
Assistant District Attorney
30th Judicial District
Tax dedicated to improving maintaining and
Parish of Vernon
operating the Public Health Unit may not be used
P. O. Box 1188
for coroner’s expenses.
Leesville, LA 71446

Dear Mr. Cabra:

You requested the opinion of this office regarding the validity of the Vernon Parish Police Jury (the "Police Jury") charging various Coroner’s expenses to the Parish Health Unit Fund (the "Fund") rather than to the General Fund. You advised that the expenses are typically such items as salary, auto mileage, Coroner’s emergency certificates, autopsy, transportation for autopsies, telephone and miscellaneous office supplies. The Fund is also used for the maintenance and operation of the Parish Health Unit, rabies vaccine, rodent poison, mosquito control and certain parish prison inmates health expenses.

The three mills property tax which provides money for the Fund is dedicated =for the purposes of furnishing the Parish’s portion of funds to improve, maintain and operate the Vernon Parish Health Unit and improving, maintaining and operating the Parish animal shelter".

This office has long been of the opinion that ad valorem tax proceeds must be used in the manner set forth in the proposition approved by the electorate. Op.Atty.Gen. Nos. 98-369, 98-287, 97-434, 96-494, 88-601 and 74-984. We note that La. R.S. 39:704 pertinently provides:

"The proceeds of any special tax shall constitute a trust fund to be used exclusively for the objects and purposes for which the tax was levied."

Additionally, the jurisprudence of this state provides that special tax authorizations must be strictly construed. Police Jury of the Parish of Acadia v. All Taxpayers, et al. (La. App.
3 Cir. 3/29/95), 653 So.2d 94, rehearing denied; Hemler v. Richland Parish School Board, 76 So. 585 (La. 1917); Watkins v. Ouachita Parish SchoolBoard, 136 So. 591 (La. 1931);
Hodnett v. Monroe City School Board, 277 So.2d 598 (La. App. 2nd Cir. 1972) and Brock v. St. James Parish Council, 407 So.2d 1265 (La. App. 4th Cir. 1981), writ denied. In

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Mr. Edwin L. Cabra
OPINION NUMBER 03-0214
Page -2-

Hemler, at pg. 586, the Supreme Court stated:

"It is a familiar principle that laws authorizing taxation.., are in derogation of common rights; and therefore are to be strictly construed.., this is especially true of laws authorizing special taxes."

Proceeds of special taxes must be used solely for the purpose or purposes set forth in the proposition approved by the voters. In the instant situation, the proposition states that the tax shall be used for the purpose of improving, maintaining and operating the Parish Health Unit and improving, maintaining and operating the Parish animal shelter.

Parish governing bodies are mandated to provide a health unit or department. These units or departments are known as parish health units. R.S. 40:12. The governing body of each parish shall provide ample means for the maintenance and operation of its parish health units or departments and for the promotion and conservation of public health. R.S. 40:13.

R.S. 40:14 provides as to the jurisdiction of parish health units, as follows:

"Parish health units may, through the parish governing authority, control and administer all matters of local sanitation not generally affecting other portions of the state. They may pass local health and sanitary ordinances and define and abate nuisances dangerous to the public health of that parish only. They may also regulate drainage and ventilation with reference to human habitation and places of business and public resort; provide for the disposition of fecal matter and garbage and waste subject to provisions of state law and the sanitary code; regulate the erection of buildings, with due regard to the filling and grading of lots, and the arrangement of buildings; provide for the vacation and demolishing of buildings when necessary for the protection of public health; and generally enforce all health and sanitary ordinances so adopted. However, these rules, ordinances and regulations shall not conflict with the rules and regulations of the sanitary code and shall not be less restrictive than the state sanitary code and may provide and regulate with respect to health matters not covered by the sanitary code."

There is nothing in R.S. 40:14 nor in the tax proposition which would allow the Parish Health Unit to cover the expenses of the Coroner. In accord is Op.Atty.Gen. 98-94 wherein this office determined that the proceeds of a tax dedicated for the maintenance and operation of the parish health unit could not be used for the payment of the Coroner’s costs and/or the expenses incidental to commitments.

Concerning the other matters paid from the Fund, this office has previously opined that, depending upon the language approved by the voters, the parish health unit fund may be

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Mr. Edwin L. Cabra
OPINION NUMBER 03-0214
Page -3-

used in certain instances for mosquito abatement1, the eradication of rabies~ and medical and dental services for inmates housed in the parish prison3.

Trusting this adequately responds to your request, we remain

Yours very truly,

RICHARD P. IEYOUB
General

BY:
S. HESS
Assista Attorney G ~neral

RPI/MSH

IOp.Atty.Gen. 02-0317

~Op.Atty.Gen. 98-94

3Op.Atty.Gen. 97-294 and 95-124.