Did a property-tax exemption also excuse a building from a Louisiana fire-district service charge?

Plain-English summary

Senator Robert Kostelka asked whether a building exempt from ad valorem property tax was also exempt from a fire protection district's service charge. The 2013 opinion said no. The charge under La. R.S. 40:1502.1 was imposed on each residential or commercial structure without regard to its value, so the AG classified it as a specific tax. The constitutional exemption for ad valorem taxation did not reach that different charge.

The AG drew the distinction from a Louisiana Supreme Court decision described in the opinion: a fixed sum on each item in a class is a specific tax, while an ad valorem tax is based on property value.

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

Building owners

Under the opinion's reading, an ad valorem exemption alone did not cancel a per-structure fire service charge. It addressed the statutory charge described in the request, not every local fee.

Fire protection districts

The opinion said the service charge authorized under La. R.S. 40:1502.1 was assessed by structure rather than property value. That feature drove its specific-tax classification.

Common questions

Did the property-tax exemption apply to the fire charge?

No. The AG treated the charge as a specific tax outside the ad valorem provisions cited in the request.

Why was the charge a specific tax?

The opinion said it was assessed on each residential or commercial structure without regard to that structure's value.

Was the charge limited to occupied structures?

The statute quoted by the AG covered each residential or commercial structure "whether occupied or unoccupied" within the qualifying district's boundaries.

Background and statutory framework

The opinion quoted La. R.S. 40:1502.1(A)(1)(a) on service charges in named parishes and La. Const. art. VII, § 21 on ad valorem exemptions. It applied a state supreme court distinction between fixed per-item taxes and value-based taxes to decide the exemption question.

Citations

• La. R.S. 40:1502.1: fire-district service charge discussed in the opinion.
• La. Const. art. VII, § 21: ad valorem exemption raised by the requester.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/13-0031

Original opinion text

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

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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
P.O. BOX 94005
BATON ROUGE
70804-9005
JAMES D. "BUDDY" CALDWEll
ATIORNEY GENERAL

APR 11 2013
OPINION 13-0031
115 TAXATION - Collection & Enforcement against person & property La. R.S. 40:1502.1: La. Const. art. VII. § 21
Honorable Robert W. Kostelka
Service charges imposed by fire protection districts under La. R.S.
State Senator, District 35
40: 1502.1 are specific taxes and thus are not subject to the provisions
P.O. Box 2122
of law governing ad valorem taxation. such as La. Const. art. VII. § 21.
Therefore. a residential or commercial structure exempt from ad
Monroe, LA 71207
valorem taxation under La. Const. art. VII, § 21 is not exempt from a
service charged imposed under La. R.S. 40: 1502.1.

Dear Senator Kostelka:

Your request for an Attorney General's Opinion regarding service charges imposed by fire protection districts under La. R.S. 40: 1502.1 has been assigned to me for research and reply. Specifically, you ask whether buildings are exempt from such service charges if they are exempt from ad valorem taxation under La. Const. art. VII, § 21.

Pertinently, La. R.S. 40:1502.1 (A)(1 )(a) provides as follows:

The governing authority of any fire protection district situated wholly within the geographical boundaries of Rapides Parish, Lincoln Parish, Claiborne Parish, Union Parish, Morehouse Parish, East Carroll Parish, or West Carroll Parish is hereby authorized to establish, by majority vote of the members of the authority, a service charge or rates of service charges for each residential or commercial structure for a term not to exceed ten years to be assessed persons owning each such structure, whether occupied or unoccupied, located wholly or partly within the boundaries of the fire protection district, subject to the provisions of Subsection B of this Section.

As you can see, the service charge under La. R.S. 40:1502.1 (A)(1 )(a) is imposed on each residential or commercial structure.

In Acorn v.. City of New Orleans, 377 SO.2d 1206 (La. 1979), the Supreme Court distinguished specific taxes from ad valorem taxes, and classified a parcel fee as a "specific tax." In pertinent part, the Court stated:
llDuties are either ad valorem or specific; the former when the duty is laid in the form of a percentage on the value of the property, the latter where it

Page 2

Honorable Robert W. Kostelka
Opinion 13-0031
Page -2­

is imposed as a fixed sum on each article of a class without regard to its value.

The tax under consideration is clearly not levied according to the valuation of the property taxed; it is a specific tax, and not an ad valorem tax. It is not, therefore, a millage increase upon a parish ad valorem tax, and is not regulated by other provisions of law governing ad valorem taxation."

In Atty. Gen. Gp. No. 91-400, we determined that service fees imposed under authority of La. R.S. 40: 1502, a similar fire protection service charge statute, are "specific taxes" as they are imposed upon each residential or commercial structure, as defined therein, without regard to the value of the structure. We believe the same logic applies to service charges imposed under La. R.S. 40: 1502.1 (A)(1 )(a). In accordance with Acorn, .supra, such specific taxes are "... not regulated by provisions of law governing ad valorem taxation," such as La. Const. art. VII, § 21.

Considering the forgoing, it is the opinion of this office that service charges imposed by fire protection districts under La. R.S. 40: 1502.1 are specific taxes and thus are not subject to the provisions of law governing ad valorem taxation, such as La. Const. art. VII, § 21. Therefore, a residential or commercial structure exempt from ad valorem taxation under La. Const. art. VII, § 21 is not exempt from a service charged imposed under La. R.S. 40:1502.1.

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

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BY:~
BENJAMIN A. HUXEN II
Assistant Attorney General
JDC/BAH II