Could annexed Timberlane residents vote on Jefferson Parish water and sewer millage renewals?

Plain-English summary

Timberlane had belonged to Jefferson Parish water and sewer districts before Gretna annexed it. The parish later amended both district boundaries to include Timberlane again and asked whether residents of Precincts 12-G and 13-G could vote on millage renewals. The 2013 opinion concluded they could vote. It relied on the service agreement with Gretna and the parish ordinance expanding the districts.

The AG read La. R.S. 33:221 (B) as allowing an annexed area to remain subject to taxes for outstanding district bonds and to an already authorized maintenance tax for its authorized period. It distinguished those continued taxes from new maintenance taxes, which the provision did not allow for the annexed area. The request said a copy of the boundary ordinance was supplied, but that copy was absent from the available extract; this page describes the ordinance only as the opinion did.

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

Timberlane voters

For the two precincts named in the request, the AG said residents could take part in the water and sewer millage renewal elections after the district boundary amendments.

Parish and district officials

The opinion treated outstanding bond debt and ongoing maintenance taxes as continuing obligations in the annexed area. It did not characterize the renewals as new maintenance taxes.

Common questions

Could residents of the two Timberlane precincts vote on the renewals?

Yes. The AG concluded that Jefferson Parish could include Precincts 12-G and 13-G in the water and sewer millage renewal vote under the facts described.

Did annexation automatically end the district's existing taxes?

The opinion said the district could continue taxes for outstanding tax-secured bonds and a previously authorized maintenance tax for its full authorized term.

Could the district impose a new maintenance tax in the annexed area?

The statutory provision quoted in the opinion said it could not levy a new maintenance tax there after the transfer arrangement described.

Background and statutory framework

The request described Timberlane's annexation by Gretna, a cooperative service agreement, and Jefferson Parish's amendment of the water and sewer district boundaries. The AG applied La. R.S. 33:221 (B) to existing bond and maintenance levies and then answered the voting question for the named precincts.

Citations

• La. R.S. 33:221 (B): continuation of existing district taxes in an annexed area and limits on new taxes.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/13-0076

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

JAMES D. "BUDDY" CALDWEll
70804-9005
AITORNEY GENERAL

AUG 1 6 2013
OPINION 13-0076

33 ELECTIONS - Tax Bonds

La.-R.S. 33:221

A special service district can continue to levy taxes in the annexed area for the retirement of any outstanding tax-secured bonds of Ms. Deborah Cunningham Foshee the district and may continue to levy such maintenance tax as has
Parish Attorney
been authorized for the full period of such authorization. Jefferson
Parish Council recently passed an ordinance which classifies the
Jefferson Parish
debt as continuing and the maintenance as ongoing. As a result of
200 Derbigny Street, Suite 5200 an existing Cooperative Endeavor Agreement, as well as the recently passed ordinance, which amended the boundaries of the
Gretna, LA 70054
water and sewer districts to include Precincts 12-G and 13-G,
residents of Timberlane Subdivision may vote for the renewal of the water and sewer millages.

Dear Ms. Foshee:

Your request for an Attorney General's Opinion has been assigned to me for research and reply. In your original correspondence, you requested that this office advise you as to whether residents of Precincts 12-G and 13-G, which include the Timberlane Subdivision ("Timberlane"), can participate in future elections concerning the renewal of millages in Jefferson Parish, which are levied to support the Consolidated Water District No. 1 and Consolidated Sewerage District NO.1.

According to the information that you provided to our office, Consolidated Sewerage District No. 1 of the Parish of Jefferson was created in 1991 by Ordinance No. 70460 and Consolidated Water District No. 1 was also created in 1991 by Jefferson Parish Code of Ordinances 27-29.

La. R.S. 33:4169 establishes the authority to create collection contracts for sewerage service charges. Paragraph (8)(4) states:

It is the policy of this state that any municipal corporation, parish, or sewerage district operating a sewerage system may in its discretion assess a charge to any premises for the connection of such premises to such sewerage system.

Page 2

Opinion 13-0076
Ms. Deborah Cunningham Foshee
Page: -2­

Similarly, La. R.S. 33:3821 (Authority to issue bonds and levy taxes) states:

Waterworks districts shall be subdivisions of the state and as such may issue bonds and levy taxes in accordance with the provisions of Section 14 of Article XIV of the Constitution of 1921 .

Timberlane was originally an unincorporated area included in the Consolidated Water District NO.1 and Consolidated Sewer District NO.1 and participated in the ten-year millage elections voted on by residents of the two Districts in 2003. Timberlane was subsequently annexed by the City of Gretna in 2008. A Cooperative Endeavor Agreement dated January 29, 2009, by and between the City of Gretna and the Parish of Jefferson, provided that the Consolidated Water District No. 1 and Consolidated Sewerage District No. 1 would continue to provide services to the Timberlane area following annexation by the City of Gretna.

In your most recent correspondence, dated August 7, 2013, you amended your prior inquiry regarding election participation by voters qf Timberlane and provided our office with additional facts for our consideration.

You stated that the Jefferson Parish Council passed Ordinance No. 24534 on July 24, 2013, to expand both Consolidated Waterworks District No. 1 and Consolidated Sewerage District NO.1. You provided our office with a copy of Ordinance 24534, which amends Section 27-192(a) of the Jefferson Parish Code of Ordinances to include the Timberlane portion of Gretna within Consolidated Waterworks District NO.1 of the Parish of Jefferson, and amends Section 27­ 29(a) of the Jefferson Parish Code of Ordinances to include the Timberlane portion of Gretna within Consolidated Sewerage District No. 1 of the Parish of Jefferson. You also stated that the Bond Commission approved the propositions for the millage renewals on June 20, 2013, with the two Timberlane precincts included in the public notice.

In light of the amended boundaries of each district, you want to know if Jefferson Parish can allow the residents of Timberlane to vote for the renewal of the water and sewer for a ten year term beginning in 2013.

For our consideration, you reference La. R.S. 33:221 (A) as authority for allowing the districts to levy taxes in the annexed area. However, paragraph B requires the agreement to cease once the debt has been retired.

Page 3

Opinion 13-0076
Ms. Deborah Cunningham Foshee
Page: -3­

La. R.S. 33:221 (B) provides that:
B. If the municipality and the special service districts provide in the contract that the municipality thereafter will have jurisdiction to serve the annexed area, the special service district shall continue to levy taxes in the annexed area for the retirement of any outstanding tax-secured bonds of the district and may continue to levy such maintenance tax as theretofore has been authorized for the full period of such authorization; however, the district shall not thereafter be authorized to levy any new maintenance taxes in the annexed area, and, if the district thereafter issues any tax-secured bonds, the assessed valuation of the annexed area shall not be used in computing the capacity of the district to issue such bonds, and taxes shall not be levied in the annexed area for the retirement of new bonds of the district, notwithstanding any provisions of law to the contrary.

The amended ordinance classifies the debt as continuing and the maintenance as ongoing. Therefore, the special service district can continue to levy taxes in the annexed area, since the outstanding tax-secured bonds of the district have not been retired. Further, it may continue to levy such maintenance tax in the districts since the maintenance is continuing and is not "new maintenance taxes." La. R.S. 33:221 (B).

As a result of the Cooperative Endeavor Agreement existing between the City of Gretna and the Parish of Jefferson, as well as the recent ordinance that was unanimously approved by the Jefferson Parish Council, which amended the boundaries of the water and sewer districts to include Timberlane, Jefferson Parish can allow the residents of Precincts 12-G and 13-G to vote for the renewal of the water and sewer millages for a ten year term beginning in 2013.

Yours very truly,

D. "BUDDY" CALDWELL t")R·~~;l=N ERAL

By:

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