Could Acadia Parish donate land or lease it cheaply to a nonprofit pet adoption center?

Plain-English summary

Second Chance Paws wanted to build a pet adoption center on Acadia Parish land. Its proposal depended on receiving a land donation, and the Police Jury also asked whether it could lease the property for a nominal sum. The AG answered no to a donation and no to a below-market lease. Louisiana's public-property statute allowed the Police Jury to lease property to a private party once it was no longer needed for a public purpose, but the Louisiana Constitution barred a gratuitous transfer. The rent therefore had to be commensurate with the property's fair market value.

The opinion did not decide whether a particular parcel was no longer needed for public use or calculate its market rent. Its answer addressed the proposed transfer to this nonprofit under the law as it stood in 2013.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2013. 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.

Historical summary

Acadia Parish Police Jury

The AG read La. R.S. 33:4711 as permitting a lease to Second Chance Paws only if the property was no longer needed for a public purpose. It said La. Const. art. VII, Sec. 14 required value in return and rejected both a free donation and a lease whose payments were not commensurate with fair market value.

Second Chance Paws

The nonprofit's plan to seek a construction grant if given land did not change the AG's answer. The opinion treated Second Chance Paws as a private party for this transaction and said a parish lease would require market-value payments.

Common questions

Could the parish give land to a nonprofit animal-adoption center?

The AG said no. It considered an outright donation to Second Chance Paws a gratuitous transfer of public property forbidden by the cited constitutional provision.

Could the parish charge only nominal rent instead?

No under this opinion. A lease was possible for property no longer needed for a public purpose, but payments had to reflect its fair market value.

Did the AG decide how much rent was fair market value?

No. It stated the governing value requirement and did not appraise a parcel or set a dollar amount.

Background and statutory framework

La. R.S. 33:4711 allowed police juries to sell, lease, or exchange property no longer needed for public purposes. La. Const. art. VII, Sec. 14 barred gratuitous transfers of public property. The AG applied those provisions together to the proposed pet-adoption-center site. It quoted an earlier opinion's description of fair market value as the price between willing, informed parties who were not compelled to transact.

Citations

• La. R.S. 33:4711: authority to lease property no longer needed for public purposes.
• La. Const. art. VII, Sec. 14: prohibition on donation of public property.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/13-0005

Original opinion text

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

~htt~ of 1fiouishtna:
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
P.O. BOX 94005
BATON ROUGE
70804-9005
JAMES D. "BUDDY" CALDWELL
ATIORNEY GENERAL

FEB 0 7 2013
OPINION 13-0005

90-A-1 PUBLIC FUNDS & CONTRACTS
La. Const. art. VII, Sec. 14
Mr. F. Douglas Wimberly
La. R.S. 33:4711
Legal Counsel, Acadia Parish Police Jury
La. R.S. 33:4711 authorizes the Acadia Parish Police Jury to
Cloyd, Wimberly & Villemarette, L.L.C.
lease property to Second Chance Paws if such property is no
longer needed for a public purpose; however, the police jury
Post Office Box 53951
must receive lease payments that are commensurate with the
Lafayette, Louisiana 70505-3951
fair market value 'of the property leased. La. Const. art. VII,
Sec. 14 prevents the police jury from simply donating property to Second Chance Paws as doing so would be a gratuitous donation of public property.
Dear Mr. Wimberly:

As attorney for the Acadia Parish Police Jury, you have requested an opinion of this office regarding the donation and/or lease of public lands. According to your request, the Acadia Parish Police Jury has been approached by a non-profit organization, Second Chance Paws, regarding the construction of a pet adoption center on parish property. The organization has indicated that if the Parish donates property to them, they will be able to secure a grant to construct the adoption facility. Acadia Parish does operate an animal control facility, which has limited space for housing stray animals.
In light of these facts, the Acadia Parish Police Jury has asked the following:

1. Can the police jury donate property to a private, non-profit organization for the construction of an animal adoption center?
2. Can the police jury enter into a lease, for a nominal sum, with a private, non-profit organization for the construction of an animal adoption center?

Police juries are authorized pursuant to La. R.S. 33:47.1'1 to sell, lease, or exchange public property with private parties, such as Second Chance Paws, once it is determined the property is no longer needed for public purpose. The statute provides as follows:

Police juries may sell, lease, or exchange with private persons or other political corporations of this state any property owned by the police jury or the parish, when such property is no longer needed for public purposes;

Page 2

Mr. F. Douglas Wimberly
Opinion 13-0005
Page -2­

and police juries may grant to municipalities within their respective parishes portions of roads, streets, alleys, or other public ways which may lie along and parallel or approximately parallel to any boundary of any municipality in such manner as to be partly in the municipality and partly outside of the municipality; provided such transfer shall have no effect until accepted by the municipality to which it is made..

When transferring public property in the manner described above, a police jury must ensure compliance with La. Const. art. VII, Sec. 14, which provides, in pertinent part, as follows:

Section 14(A) Prohibited Uses. Except as otherwise provided by this constitution, the funds, credit, property or things of value of the state or of any political shall not be loaned, pledged, or donated to or for any person, association, or corporation, public or private...

This constitutional provision is violated whenever a public entity gratuitously transfers public property. See Board of Directors of the Industrial Development Board of the City of Gonzales, Louisiana, Inc. v. All. Taxpayers, Property Owners, Citizens of the City of Gonzales, et a/., 2005-2298 (La. 9/6/06), 938 So. 2d 11, 20 (the ItCabela's" case).

When a police jUry transfers public property pursuant to La. R.S. 33:4711, it has consistently been the opinion of this office that in order to comply with the mandates of La. Const. art. VII, Sec. 14, the police jury must receive fair market value in exchange for the alienation of public property. Our office has previously opined that fair market value means lithe price at which property would change hands between a Willing buyer and a willing seller when neither party is under any compulsion to buy or sell and both parties have reasonable knowledge of relevant facts." La. Atty. Gen. Op. Nos. 09-0293, 08-0226, 06-0236. Black's Law Dictionary prOVides a similar definition of "fair market value": "[t]he price that a seller is willing to accept and a buyer is willing to pay on the open market and in an arm's-length transaction; the point at which supply and demand intersect." Black's Law Dictionary, 9th ed. 2009.

Based on the foregoing, it is the opinion of this office that La. R.S. 33:4711 authorizes the Acadia Parish Police Jury to lease property to Second Chance Paws if such property is no longer needed for a public purpose; however, the police jury must receive lease payments that are commensurate with the fair market value of the property leased. See La. Atty. Gen. Op. No. 01-0167. We further opine that La. Const. art. VII, Sec. 14 prevents the police jury from simply donating property to Second Chance Paws as doing so would be a gratuitous donation of public property.

Page 3

Mr. F. Douglas Wimberly
Opinion 13-0005
Page -3­

We trust this adequately responds to your request. However, if our office can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Yours very truly,

JAMES D. "BUDDY" CALDWELL
Attorney General

By: tt J.&, t±~ ir\U)S'EY K. Ili UNTER
Assistant Attorney General
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