Could Tangipahoa Water District auction its surplus vehicles through a private auctioneer?

Plain-English summary

Tangipahoa Water District asked whether it could sell vehicles it no longer needed by public auction. The 2013 opinion concluded yes. As a corporate political subdivision with power to acquire necessary machinery, the district could also dispose of surplus movable property and use the public-auction procedure in La. R.S. 49:125.

The opinion said the district could hire a qualified licensed auctioneer. It quoted requirements for advertisement and lawful pricing, and the public entity's right to reject bids or remove an item from sale.

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

Water district board members

The AG treated the vehicles as surplus movable property and said the district could use the statutory public-auction route rather than retain equipment no longer needed for its public purpose.

Auctioneers and bidders

The opinion permitted a qualified licensed auctioneer to conduct the sale, while the district retained the statutory ability to reject bids and pull property from the auction.

Common questions

Could the district sell old vehicles at public auction?

Yes. The AG found authority to dispose of surplus movable property through La. R.S. 49:125.

Could it hire a private auctioneer?

Yes, if the auctioneer was qualified and licensed and the sale remained a public auction.

Did the opinion allow an unadvertised sale at any price?

No. The statute quoted by the AG required advertisement and barred a price below what law required.

Background and statutory framework

La. R.S. 33:3811 authorized creation of water districts, and La. R.S. 33:3815 supplied broad corporate powers, including acquiring machinery. The AG read those powers to include disposal of unneeded vehicles and applied La. R.S. 49:125's public auction route.

Citations

• La. R.S. 33:3811 and La. R.S. 33:3815: water district authority.
• La. R.S. 49:125: public auction of surplus movable property.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/13-0114

Original opinion text

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

~ta±£ of 1fiouisiana
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
P.O. BOX 94005
BATON ROUGE
70804-9005
JAMES D. "BUDDY" CALDWELL
ATIORNEY GENERAL

AUG 1 3 2013
OPINION 13-0114

90-A-1 PUBLIC FUNDS & CONTRACTS
Mr. Robert W. Tillery
La. R.S. 33:3811
General Counsel
La. R.S. 33:3813.2
La. R.S. 49:125
Tangipahoa Water District
Post Office Drawer 1509
The Tangipahoa Water District may dispose of surplus
movable property at public auction pursuant to La. R.S.
Hammond, Louisiana 70404
49:125 and employ a qualified licensed auctioneer to handle
the public auction.

Dear Mr. Tillery:

You have requested an opinion of this office regarding whether the Tangipahoa Water District ("District") may use the authority set forth in La. R.S. 49:125 to dispose of surplus vehicles at public auction. For the reasons explained below, it is our opinion that the District may dispose of its surplus vehicles by pUblic auction.

The legislature has expressly authorized the various parishes of the State to create water districts within their parish. La. R.S. 33:3811. The District was created by the Tangipahoa Parish Council pursuant to Tangipahoa Parish Ordinance No. 92-16, as amended by Tangipahoa Parish Ordinance Nos. 92-29 and 92-47. The District was made a part of the Louisiana Revised Statutes by La. R.S. 33:3813.2. The broad powers of waterworks districts are set forth by La. R.S. 33:3815(A), which provides as follows:

Any waterworks district thus created and named or numbered by a police jury shall constitute a body corporate in law, with all the powers of a corporation, and all powers necessary for it to carry out the objects for which it was created. The waterworks district may expropriate property for any purpose that it may find necessary in the operation of its waterworks system, and may acquire by donation or purchase any existing waterworks system in the district. Waterworks districts may dig and excavate the roads, streets, sidewalks, and alleys in the district for the purpose of laying pipeline or water mains. It may acquire any and all machinery necessary for the purpose of affecting the object for which it is formed and shall own all sites which are acquired either by donation, purchase, expropriation, exchange, or otherwise in full ownership.

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Mr. Robert W. Tillery
Opinion 13-0114
Page -2­

The legislature has also expressly authorized certain public entities to sell surplus· movable property at auction. La. R.S. 49:125 provides as follows:

A. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the state or any board, commission, department or agency of the state or any political subdivision of the state is hereby authorized to sell surplus movable property at public auction, in addition to the other methods provided by law for such sales. The unit of government so desiring to sell surplus movable property at public auction is authorized to employ qualified licensed auctioneers to handle said sale.

B. No sale at public auction shall be at a price which is less than is required by law, and all such sales shall be advertised in the manner provided by law.

C. The unit of government so desiring to sell surplus movable property at public auction shall reserve the right to reject any and all bids and remove said item of movable property from sale.

In responding to your opinion request, we find Alexis v. Kare-Sue, Inc, et ai, 187 So. 2d 476 (La. App. 4 Cir. 6/6/66), to be instructive. Alexis was a declaratory judgment action which asked the court to determine whether a water district had the authority to sell its idle, vacant and surplus lands not dedicated for public use or forming parts of its system. Id. The court stated as follows:

Water District No. 1 is admittedly an independent corporate political subdivision of the State, existing and created under the authority of the Constitution and the Legislature (La. Const. art. XIV, Sec. 14; La. R.S.
33:3811-33:3835), and has authority to sell its idle, vacant and surplus lands, not dedicated for public use or forming part of its system, and such a sale si [sic] not a 'grant' within the general prohibition of sale of public lands under Article 4, Sec. 12, of the Constitution.

The jurisprudence is clear that corporate political subdivisions of the State, properly created under the authority of the Legislature, as was the Water District No.1, with the broad powers and authority therein vested, have full and complete legal authority and capacity to sell their idle and surplus real property at private sale to a private corporation, notwithstanding there is no express or special authority as such in the Constitution or Statutes.
Such corporate political subdivisions of the State not only have the authority to sell, but have the duty to sell and dispose of excess real

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Mr. Robert W. Tillery
Opinion 13-0114
Page -3­

property, and it is not necessary for the Legislature to say so in a special enactment.

(Internal citations omitted.)

Id. at 477. The District was created under the same provisions as the water district in Alexis and is also a corporate political subdivision of the State. Although Alexis addresses a water district's authority to dispose of surplus real property, it is our opinion that the broad authority given to water districts by La. R.S. 33:3815, specifically the authority to acquire certain movable property ("it may acquire any and all machinery necessary"), includes the authority to dispose of the movable property once it is no longer needed. for the District's public purpose. Because the District is a corporate .

political subdivision of the State, it may avail itself of La. R.S. 49:125 and sell its surplus movable property at public auction and may do so using a private auctioneer to conduct the sale as long as the sale is made public. Public notice of the sale provides notice and an opportunity to those who may be interested in purchasing the property as well as to those who oppose such a sale.

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:
LINDSEY K. UNTER
Assistant Attorney General
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