Could Terrebonne Parish let each council member decide how to spend money in a district fund?

Plain-English summary

Terrebonne Parish proposed a separate improvement or assistance fund for each of its nine council districts, with money budgeted annually for uses such as public safety, public works, transit, health, and welfare. The request suggested each council member would decide how to spend the money in that member's fund. In Opinion 03-0355, Attorney General Charles Foti concluded that this discretionary council-member spending arrangement would violate the Louisiana Local Government Budget Act.

The opinion distinguished adopting a budget from authorizing an expenditure. It quoted R.S. 39:1311(C): an adopted budget and its authorized amendments "shall constitute the authority of the chief executive or administrative officers ... to incur liability and authorize expenditures." For Terrebonne Parish, the AG identified the parish president as chief executive and the Parish Council as governing authority. Budgeted money therefore did not itself give individual council members the president's spending authority.

The AG left a narrower budget-presentation question undecided. The Parish Attorney had raised concern about whether the proposed district funds could be shown in the budget under R.S. 39:1305's required expenditure categories. The AG said the request did not clearly describe all particulars of that proposal, so he was "unable to opine on this particular issue." He also said his office generally did not render opinions on the specific terms of a home-rule charter, while quoting the charter's executive and finance provisions.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2004. 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 council members

The opinion rejected the proposed arrangement insofar as it let each council member decide expenditures from a district fund. The AG said R.S. 39:1311 assigned authorization of liabilities and expenditures from budgeted funds to the chief executive or administrative officers, not the governing authority's members.

Parish presidents and finance officers

The AG identified the parish president as the chief executive for this question. He also quoted a charter provision requiring the president or designee to certify that an appropriation had sufficient unencumbered funds before payment or an obligation was incurred. His statutory holding did not depend on resolving every charter question.

Budget preparers

The opinion described R.S. 39:1305's requirement to show recommended expenditures by agency, department, function, and character, but declined to decide whether the proposed fund structure met that detail because the request lacked particulars. It separately described the open-meeting budget-amendment rule in R.S. 39:1310.

Common questions

Q: Could each Terrebonne council member personally authorize spending from a district fund? A: No. The AG concluded that the proposed use would violate the Budget Act because authorization of liabilities and expenditures from budgeted funds belonged to the parish president as chief executive, not to council members.

Q: Did putting money in an adopted budget make it available for each council member to spend? A: Not under the arrangement described. The opinion quoted the adopted budget as the framework for monitoring and control, but said the statute assigned spending authorization to the chief executive or administrative officers.

Q: Did the AG decide whether nine district funds could be listed in the annual budget? A: No. He said the supplied information did not clearly state the proposed action's particulars, so he could not opine on that separate budget-presentation issue.

Q: Did the opinion give a final ruling on Terrebonne's home-rule charter? A: No. The AG said his office generally did not opine on specific charter terms. He quoted charter provisions giving the president executive and administrative authority and requiring certification before payment, and said the proposed council action could not contradict those provisions.

Background and statutory framework

The opinion cited R.S. 39:1305 for annual budgets, R.S. 39:1310 for open-meeting budget amendments when specified changes arise, and R.S. 39:1311 for the distinct budget-control roles of the chief executive and governing authority. It identified the latter under R.S. 39:1302(2) as the body exercising legislative functions. Its published first-page stamp reads FEB 0,5 2OO4 in the PDF extraction, supporting February 5, 2004 despite the opinion number's 03 prefix.

Citations and references

Statutes in the opinion: R.S. 39:1305 (budget content); R.S. 39:1310 (amendments); R.S. 39:1311 (authority to incur liabilities and authorize spending); R.S. 39:1302(2) (governing authority).

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/03-0355

Original opinion text

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

Lm i iar a
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE p.o. Box 94005
BATON ROUGE
70804.-9005
CHARLES C. FOTI~ JR.
ATTORNEY GENERAL
OPINION NUMBER 03-0355
FEB 0,5 2OO4
90-A - POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS - Officers, Agents & Employees
R.S. 39:1305; 39:1310; 39:1311
Mr. Paul A. Labat, Clerk
Parish Council
Local Government Budget Act authorizes the
P. O. Box 2768
chief executive and not the parish council to
Houma, LA 70361
incur liabilities and authorized expenditures from
budgeted funds.
Dear Mr. Labat:

You requested the opinion of this office concerning whether the Terrebonne Parish Council (the "Council") can legally create a Council District Improvement/Assistance Fund (the "Fund") for each of the nine Council districts into which annually budgeted funds would be deposited. The monies in each Fund would be used for such things as public safety, public works, transit, health and welfare within each of the nine districts. Presumably, it would be within the discretion of each individual councilman to determine how the monies in his Fund would be expended. You advised that the Parish Attorney expressed concern as to whether the creation and use of the Funds would be in conflict with the Louisiana Local Government Budget Act (the "Budget Act") and/or the Parish Home Rule Charter (the "Charter").

The Budget Act requires each political subdivision to cause to be prepared a comprehensive budget presenting a complete financial plan for each fiscal year for the general fund and each special revenue fund. R.S. 39:1305. The budget document must include:

"(2)(a) A statement for the general fund and each special revenue fund showing the estimated fund balances at the beginning of the year; estimates of all receipts and revenues to be received; revenues itemized by source; recommended expenditures itemized by agency, department, function, and character; other financing sources and uses by source and use; and the estimated fund balance at the end of the fiscal year." (Emphasis added)

From the information which accompanied your request, it appeared that the Parish Attorney was concerned as to whether the proposed action by the Council would be in compliance with the emphasized language in the preceding paragraph. As the information provided did not clearly state all the particulars of the proposed Council action, we are unable to opine on this particular issue.

Mr. Paul A. Labat
OPINION NUMBER 03-0355
Page -2-

The information you supplied also indicates that the Parish Attorney considered the proposed action to be a budget amendment. Under the Budget Act, when the governing authority has received notification of specific changes in total revenue and/or total actual expenditures, or there has been a change in operations upon which the original adopted budget was developed, the governing authority shall adopt a budget amendment in an open meeting to reflect such change. R.S. 39:1310.

R.S. 39:1311 pertains to budgetary authority and control and differentiates between the authority of the chief executive and administrative officers of the political subdivision and the governing authority of the political subdivision, which latter term is defined in R.S. 39:1302(2) to mean "the body which exercises the legislative functions of the political subdivision." R.S. 39:1311 provides in pertinent part as follows:

"A. The adopted budget and any duly authorized adopted amendments shall form the framework from which the chief executive or administrative officers and members of the governing authority of the political subdivision shall monitor revenues and control expenditures...

C. The adopted budget and any duly authorized amendments required by this Section shall constitute the authority of the chief executive or administrative officers of the political subdivision to incur liability and authorize expenditures from the respective budgeted funds during the fiscal year." (Emphasis added)

Therefore, under the Budget Act, it is the chief executive which in this instance is the Parish President, and not the members of the governing authority which in this case is the Parish Council, who is given the authority to incur liability and authorize expenditures from the respective budgeted funds. We must concur with the Parish Attorney that the proposed action would violate the Budget Act.

As to whether there would also be a violation of the Charter, this office generally does not render opinions on the specific terms of a home rule charter; however, we would note that the Charter grants to the President the general executive and administrative authority over all departments, offices and agencies of the Parish Government, except as otherwise provided by the Charter.1 The Charter provides for the appointment by the President of a Chief Administrative and Finance Officer whose duties include administering the day-to-day

~Section 3-01.

Mr. Paul A. Labat
OPINION NUMBER 03-0355
Page -3-

business of the Parish and disbursement of all funds from the Parish treasury.2 Article V of the Charter pertains to Financial Procedures and sets forth the procedures for adoption of the annual budget. Section 5-06 provides in pertinent part:

"A. No payment shall be made or obligation incurred against any allotment or appropriation except in accordance with the approved operating and capital budgets and appropriations duly made and unless the President or the President’s designee first certifies that there is a sufficient unencumbered balance in such allotment or appropriation and that sufficient funds therefrom are or will be available to cover the claim or meet the obligation when it becomes due and payable .... Any authorization of payment or incurring of obligation in violation of the provisions of this charter shall be void and any payment so made illegal; such action shall be cause for removal of any official, officer, or employee who knowingly authorized or made such payment or incurred such obligation ..."

The proposed Council action cannot be contrary to the above quoted provisions.

Trusting this adequately responds to your request, we remain

Yours very truly,

CHARLES C. FOTI, JR.
EY GENERAL

BY:

General

CCF,JR:MSH:jv

2Section 3-02.