§2740.49. The Downtown Economic Development District of the City of Monroe; creation, composition, and powers; preparation of plans, levy of special ad valorem taxes, and insurance of bonds and other instruments of indebtedness

A.(1) The local governing authority for the city of Monroe, with the approval of the mayor, is authorized to create a special taxing district within the city of Monroe. The boundaries of the district shall be located within the city of Monroe and described as follows:

Beginning at the intersection of the centerline of the Ouachita River and the centerline of the I-20 Bridge; thence easterly along the centerline of the I-20 to the centerline of the Civic Center Expressway; thence in an easterly and northerly direction along the south and east sides of the Monroe Civic Center to South 11th Street and continuing northerly along the centerline of South 11th Street to the centerline of Manassas Street; thence northeasterly along the centerline of Manassas Street to Desiard Street; thence northerly along the centerline of Pendleton Street to the centerline of Washington Street; thence westerly along the centerline of Washington Street to the centerline of North 9th Street; thence northerly along the centerline of North 9th Street to the intersection with an alley located between Louisville Avenue and Bres Avenue; thence westerly along the centerline of said alley and along an extended line to the centerline of the Ouachita River; thence southerly along the centerline of the Ouachita River, which is also the Monroe city limits line, to the point of beginning; and that certain property located south of the centerline of I-20 and north of the Masur Museum of Art between the Ouachita River and South Grand Street.

(2) The special taxing district shall be known and designated as the "Downtown Economic Development District for the City of Monroe", hereinafter referred to as "the district".

B. The local governing authority of the city of Monroe, hereinafter referred to as "the council", shall have control over and responsibility for the functions, affairs, and administration of the district.

C. In order to provide for the orderly planning, development, acquisition, construction, and effectuation of the services, improvements, and facilities to be furnished by the district, to provide for the representation in the affairs of the district of those persons and interests immediately concerned with and affected by the purposes and development of the district, and to provide for uses of the Ouachita River for the purpose and development of the district, there is hereby authorized to be created a board of commissioners for the district, hereinafter referred to as "the board".

D.(1) The board shall be composed of nine members, all of whom shall be qualified voters of the parish of Ouachita. The board membership shall be reflective of the city's diverse population. The nine members shall be appointed as follows:

(a) Two members shall be appointed by the mayor.

(b) Two members shall be appointed by the city council.

(c) Two members shall be appointed by the city council from a list of nominees submitted by the Monroe Chamber of Commerce to the council on or before August 1, 1999.

(d) Three members shall be appointed by the city council from a list of nominees submitted to the council on or before August 1, 1999, by the three largest assessed property owners within the district, and at least one appointment must be made from each of the three largest assessed property owners. The members appointed by the city council in this Subparagraph shall have their principal place of business or profession in, or own property in, the district.

(e) The initial appointments to the board shall be made on or before September 1, 1999.

(2)(a) The terms of members of the board shall be three years, and upon expiration of a term of office, the successor shall be appointed in accordance with the procedures herein prescribed for the appointment of the original members.

(b) Any vacancy which occurs prior to the expiration of the term for which a member of the board has been appointed shall be filled by appointment in the same manner as the original appointment for the unexpired term.

E.(1) As soon as practical after their appointment, the board shall meet. The board shall elect from their number a chairman, vice chairman, a secretary, a treasurer, and such other officers as it may deem appropriate.

(2) The minute books and archives of the board shall be maintained by the board's secretary with the help and assistance of and through the council's office. The monies, funds, and accounts of the district in the official custody and control of the board's treasurer shall be deposited, expended, and accounted for, records maintained, and idle funds invested through the department of administration, under the director of administration, and checks issued through the department as in the case of city monies under the plan of government. An attorney appointed by the mayor shall serve as the board's regular attorney, and the services of other offices and departments of the city shall be furnished in accordance with Paragraph (F)(5) of this Section.

(3) The duties of the officers shall be fixed by bylaws adopted by the board. The board shall adopt such rules and regulations as it deems necessary or advisable for conducting its business and affairs. To the extent that funds are available, the board shall be empowered to employ an executive director and other such assistants and employees as are needed to assist the board in the performance of its duties. It shall hold regular meetings as shall be provided in the bylaws and may hold special meetings at such time and places within or without the district as may be prescribed in the bylaws.

(4) A majority of the members of the board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. The board shall keep minutes of all meetings and shall make them available to the public in conformance with law.

(5) The members of the board shall serve without compensation; however, they shall receive a travel allowance as reimbursement for expenses incurred while attending to the business of the board or the district.

F.(1)(a) The board shall prepare or cause to be prepared a plan or plans specifying the public improvements, facilities, and services proposed to be furnished, constructed, or acquired for the district and shall conduct such public hearings, publish such notice with respect thereto, and disseminate such information as it, in the exercise of its sound discretion, may deem to be appropriate or advisable and in the public interest.

(b) Any plan may specify and encompass any public services, capital improvements, and facilities which the city of Monroe is authorized to undertake, furnish, or provide under the constitution and laws of the state of Louisiana, and such specified public services, improvements, and facilities shall be special and in addition to all services, improvements, and facilities which the city of Monroe is then furnishing or providing or may then or in the future be obligated to furnish or provide within the district.

(c) Any plan shall include:

(i) An estimate of the annual and total cost of acquiring, constructing, or providing the services, improvements, or facilities set forth therein.

(ii) The proportion of the tax to be levied on the taxable real property within the district which is to be set aside and dedicated to paying the cost of furnishing specified services and the proportion of such tax to be set aside and dedicated to paying the cost of capital improvements or paying the cost of debt service on any bonds to be issued to pay the cost of capital improvements, such proportions, in each case, to be expressed in numbers of mills.

(iii) An estimate of the total number of mills required to be levied each year on the taxable real property within the district in order to provide the funds required for the implementation of the plan for furnishing the specified services and for capital improvements, debt service, or both.

(d) The board shall also submit the plan to the city planning commission. The planning commission shall review the plan and determine whether or not it is consistent with the comprehensive plan for the city of Monroe. The planning commission, within thirty days following receipt of the plan, shall submit to the council its written opinion as to whether or not the plan or any portion or detail thereof is inconsistent with the comprehensive plan for the city, together with its written comments and recommendations with respect thereto.

(e)(i) After receipt of the plan together with the written comments and recommendations of the city planning commission, the council shall review and consider the plan together with the written comments and recommendations. The council, by a majority vote of all its members, may adopt or reject the plan as originally submitted by the board or alter or modify the plan or any portion or detail thereof.

(ii) If the plan as originally submitted by the board is adopted by the majority vote of the council, it shall become final and conclusive and may thereafter be implemented. If the council alters or modifies the plan by a majority vote of its members, the plan as altered or modified shall be resubmitted to the board for its concurrence or rejection.

(iii) The board may concur in the modified plan by a majority vote of all of its members. If the board votes to concur in the plan as modified by the council, the plan shall become final and conclusive and may thereafter be implemented. If the board does not concur in the plan as modified by the council, it shall notify the council in writing of its decision.

(iv) Thereafter and as often as the board may deem to be necessary or advisable, it shall prepare or cause to be prepared a plan or plans and submit the same to the planning commission in accordance with the same procedure hereinabove prescribed with respect to the original plan. The planning commission shall submit such plan, together with their written comments and recommendations, to the council for its adoption, modification, or rejection in the manner and with the same effect as provided with respect to the original plan.

(2)(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of Paragraph (1) of this Subsection, the board may prepare and submit directly to the council a plan or plans setting forth its intention to employ professional consultants, experts, and such other advisors and personnel as it shall deem to be necessary or convenient to assist in the preparation of a plan or plans for the orderly and efficient development of services and improvements within the district.

(b) The plan shall specify the services proposed to be rendered by such employees, an estimate of the aggregate of the proposed salaries of such employees, and an estimate of the other expenses of the board required for the preparation of such plan or plans, together with a request that a tax in an amount sufficient to cover the costs of such salaries and expenses be levied on the real property within the district.

(c) The plan shall include a proposed budget of income and expenditures specifying the source of funding for each of the years the tax is to run.

(3)(a) The council shall review and consider such plan within thirty days following submission to it by the board and shall adopt or reject such plan by a majority vote of its members.

(b) If the council adopts such plan, it shall become final and conclusive, and the tax requested by the board upon approval by special referendum of the electorate of the city of Monroe, as required by Paragraph (6) of this Subsection, shall be levied and collected.

(c) If the council rejects the plan, it shall notify the board of its action, and the board may again and from time to time prepare and submit to the council a plan in accordance with the procedures provided for in this Paragraph.

(4) If no plan is finally and conclusively adopted in accordance with the procedures prescribed in this Subsection within four years after June 11, 1999, all power and authority conferred hereby shall lapse, the district shall be dissolved, and all power and authority incident thereto shall become null and void as a matter of law; however, in such event, all obligations contractual or otherwise, incurred by the district during its existence, shall survive and shall be fully enforceable in accordance with their terms.

(5)(a) All services to be furnished within the district pursuant to any plan finally and conclusively adopted hereunder shall be furnished, supplied, and administered by the city through its regularly constituted departments, agencies, boards, commissions, and instrumentalities. All capital improvements and facilities to be acquired, constructed, or provided within the district, whether from the proceeds of bonds or otherwise, shall likewise be so acquired, constructed, or provided by the city through its regularly constituted departments, agencies, boards, commissions, and instrumentalities, it being the intention hereof to avoid the duplication of administrative and management efforts and expense in the implementation of any plan adopted for the benefit of the district.

(b) In order to provide such services and/or provide, construct, or acquire such capital improvements or facilities, the board may enter into intergovernmental local service contracts with the city.

(c) The cost of any such services, capital improvements, or facilities shall be paid for by the district from the proceeds of the special tax levied upon real property within the district as herein provided or from the proceeds of bonds.

(6)(a) The council, in addition to all other taxes which it is now or hereafter may be authorized to levy and collect, is hereby authorized to levy and collect a special ad valorem tax not to exceed ten mills on the dollar of assessed valuation upon all taxable real property situated within the boundaries of the city of Monroe. The tax shall be levied for a term not to exceed fifty years and shall be collected in the same manner and at the same time as all other ad valorem taxes on property subject to taxation by the city are collected. No such tax shall be levied until a plan requesting the levy of a tax is finally and conclusively adopted in accordance with the procedures prescribed herein.

(b) The proceeds of the tax shall be used exclusively for the purposes and benefit of the district.

(c) The tax shall be submitted to a referendum of the electorate of the city of Monroe and conducted in accordance with the Louisiana Election Code.

(d) The avails of the tax shall be paid over by the sheriff and ex officio tax collector to the city administration department, day-by-day, as the same are collected for the account of the district.

(e) It is expressly declared that the special tax hereby authorized is limited to immovable property, and nothing contained in this Subsection shall be construed to levy or authorize the levying of a tax upon movable property of any kind or description whatsoever, whether corporeal or incorporeal.

(7)(a) The council, when requested by resolution adopted by a majority of the members of the board, may fund the avails of the tax into bonds or other instruments of indebtedness for the exclusive benefit of the district. The principal of, the premium if any, and interest on the bonds or other instruments of indebtedness shall be payable solely from the proceeds of the special tax authorized, levied, and collected pursuant to the provisions of this Subsection. The bonds shall not constitute general obligations of the parish. Any indebtedness incurred by the council for and on behalf of the district pursuant to the provisions of this Subsection, evidenced by bonds, notes, or other evidences of indebtedness, or otherwise, shall be excluded in determining the power of the council to incur indebtedness and to issue its general obligation bonds. The principal amount of such bonds which may be outstanding at any one time shall never exceed the sum of twenty million dollars and shall not exceed the total principal amount which may be serviced in principal and interest not to exceed seventy-five percent of the avails estimated to be available in the first and each succeeding year that any of the bonds are to be outstanding. The proceeds derived from the sale of such bonds shall be paid over to the appropriate officials of the council for deposit to the account of the district. The bonds shall bear such rate or rates of interest and, except as herein otherwise specifically provided, shall be in such form, terms, and denominations, be redeemable at such times and places, within a period of not exceeding fifty years from the date thereof as may be provided for in the resolution of the council providing for their issuance.

(b) The bonds shall be signed by the mayor and the clerk of the council. However, in the discretion of the council one of the signatures may be in facsimile. In case any officer whose signature appears upon a bond or coupon ceases to be an officer before delivery of the bonds or coupons to the purchaser, his signature or countersignature shall nevertheless be valid for all purposes.

(c) The resolution of the council authorizing the issuance and sale of such bonds and fixing the form and details thereof may contain such other provisions as the council may deem to be necessary or advisable to enhance the marketability and acceptability thereof by purchasers and investors, including but not limited to covenants with bondholders setting forth:

(i) Conditions and limitations on the issuance of additional bonds constituting a lien and charge on the avails of the special tax levied on real property within the district, pari passu with bonds theretofore issued and outstanding; and

(ii) The creation of reserves for the payment of the principal of and interest on such bonds.

(d) These bonds and the interest thereon shall be exempt from all taxation levied for state, parish, municipal, or other local purposes.

(e) Savings banks, tutors of minors, curators of interdicts, trustees, and other fiduciaries are authorized to invest the funds in their hands in said bonds.

(8)(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Subsection to the contrary, no tax authorized herein shall be levied and no bonds shall be issued unless and until the maximum amount of the tax in mills, the years the tax is to run and to be issued under the plan, and the maximum amount of bonds to be issued has been approved by a majority of the electors in the district voting thereon in an election called for that purpose in accordance with the Louisiana Election Code.

(b) No bonds issued hereunder shall be general obligations of the state of Louisiana, the parish of Ouachita, the city of Monroe, or the district.

(9) The district shall have the power to acquire, to lease, to insure, and to sell real property within its boundaries in accordance with its plans.

(10) The district shall have the authority to pay the city of Monroe, the Monroe Chamber of Commerce, the Ouachita Economic Development Corporation or other contractor for services rendered by each respective entity or persons under a local services contract between the district and such entity for services rendered in furtherance of this Subsection.

G.(1) The legislature hereby finds and declares that it is necessary for the public health, safety, and welfare of the city of Monroe that the property value deterioration in the principal area or areas of the city of Monroe known generally as the Central Business District be halted and that the causes of such deterioration be halted, since the Central Business District is the center of commercial, civic, and cultural activities of the metropolitan area.

(2) It shall be the function and duty of the board to formulate the program to implement the various development plans for downtown Monroe heretofore or hereafter submitted, and it shall revise or amend its decisions from time to time as it sees fit. Such a program shall implement the various plans with the responsibility of aiding and encouraging private development of the area and promoting and coordinating public development. In carrying out such programs, the board may consult with all departments of the city of Monroe and such other public or private agencies as are concerned with matters affecting or affected by the program. The board may conduct studies and based thereon may make such recommendations as it determines are calculated to implement the intent and purposes of this Section.

(3) The programs formulated and recommendations made as provided in Paragraph (2) of this Subsection shall be included in the plan or plans prepared as provided in Subsection F of this Section.

H. Tax increment financing. (1) In addition to the authority provided to the district, the district shall have the authority provided to an economic development district by Part II of Chapter 27 of this Title and may issue revenue bonds payable from an irrevocable pledge and dedication of up to full amount of tax increments available to an economic development district as provided in such Part to be derived from any project or projects provided for in this Section, or parts thereof, in an amount to be determined by the district, in order to finance or refinance any project or projects, or parts thereof, which are consistent with the purposes of the district, provided that the irrevocable pledge and dedication of tax increments available have been submitted to the qualified electors of the district at an election to be conducted in accordance with the election laws of the state and a majority of those voting in the election have voted in favor of the irrevocable pledge and dedication of tax increments.

(2) For purposes of the tax increment financing authority derived from Part II of Chapter 27 of this Title, which is conferred upon the district by this Section, and only for purposes of this Section, "local governmental subdivision" as defined in such Part shall include the parish of Ouachita and all political subdivisions within the parish.

(3) A general sales tax increment shall consist of that portion of the general sales tax collected by the district in an amount determined by the board of commissioners and which is in lieu of other such taxes levied by other taxing authorities.

(4) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, any portion of the tax of any local governmental subdivision or other tax recipient body may only be used as a tax increment for tax increment finance purposes with the consent of such local governmental subdivision or other tax recipient body expressed by ordinance or resolution and upon approval of a majority of the qualified electors of the city of Monroe voting at an election to be conducted in accordance with the general election laws of the state of Louisiana.

I. Term. The district shall dissolve and cease to exist one year after the earlier of the date all bonds, notes, and other evidences of indebtedness of the district, including refunding bonds are paid in full as to both principal and interest; however, under no event shall the district have an existence of less than three years.

J. Liberal construction. This Section, being necessary for the welfare of the city and its residents, shall be liberally construed to effect the purposes thereof.

Acts 1999, No. 221, §1, eff. June 11, 1999; Acts 2001, No. 444, §1, eff. June 18, 2001; Acts 2005, No. 312, §1, eff. June 29, 2005.

NOTE: See Acts 2001, No. 444, §2, repealing provisions for Monroe Downtown Development District, and §3, providing for certain funding for "the district". (Act No. 444 includes provisions in Section 1 for the Downtown Economic Development District and the Southside Economic Development District, both in Monroe).