§4064.5. Funding

A. Subject to the approval of a majority of the electors of the unincorporated portion of St. Tammany Parish voting in an election held for that purpose, the commission is hereby authorized to levy and collect an ad valorem tax not to exceed five mills for an initial term not to exceed ten years on all taxable property located within that portion of the parish. Thereafter, levy of an ad valorem tax by the commission shall be in accordance with the provisions of R.S. 39:801 through 804. Such ad valorem tax shall be imposed by resolution of the commission only after the question of the imposition of the tax has been submitted to the qualified electors of the unincorporated portion of St. Tammany Parish at an election conducted in accordance with the election laws of the state of Louisiana, and the majority of those voting in the election have voted in favor of the proposition. The proceeds of such tax shall be used for any of the purposes specified in R.S. 33:4064.1.

B. The commission is hereby authorized to levy and collect an additional sales and use tax not in excess of one percent within the unincorporated portion of St. Tammany Parish. Such sales and use tax shall be imposed by resolution of the commission only after the question of the imposition of the tax has been submitted to the qualified electors of the unincorporated portion of St. Tammany Parish at an election conducted in accordance with the election laws of the state of Louisiana, and the majority of those voting in the election have voted in favor of the proposition. Such tax shall be levied upon the sale at retail, the use, lease, and rental, the consumption and the storage for consumption of tangible personal property, and on sales of services in the unincorporated portion of St. Tammany Parish, all as defined in R.S. 47:301 through 317. This tax shall be in addition to all other taxes and shall be collected at the same time and in the same manner as set forth in R.S. 47:301 through 317. The proceeds of such tax shall be used for any of the purposes specified in R.S. 33:4064.1.

C.(1) In addition to other powers specifically granted, with regard to land properly subdivided and recognized as a subdivision of ten lots or more by the governing authority of St. Tammany Parish, the commission is hereby authorized to levy and collect an annual parcel fee on each lot or parcel of real estate located in the unincorporated portion of St. Tammany Parish. The fee may be a fixed amount, or determined by calculation on a front foot or square foot basis.

(2) Such parcel fee shall be imposed by resolution of the commission only after the question of its imposition has been submitted to the qualified electors of the unincorporated portion of St. Tammany Parish at an election held in accordance with the election laws of the state of Louisiana, and a majority of those voting in the election have voted in favor of the proposition.

(3) Any such parcel fee shall constitute a special assessment as defined in Article VI, Section 36(B) of the Louisiana Constitution. For the purposes of this Subsection, "parcel" shall mean a lot, a subdivided portion of ground, or an individual tract.

(4) The amount assessed shall be due and collectible as shall be set forth in the resolution imposing such parcel fee and if payable in deferred payment installments such deferred payment installments shall, if so provided in the resolution, bear interest at such rate or rates as shall be provided in the resolution. The failure to pay any deferred payment installment or the interest thereon when due, shall ipso facto cause all other installments of deferred payments and the interest thereon to become due and payable and the commission shall within thirty days from date of such default, proceed against the property for the collection of the total amount due thereon, including interest, plus ten percent additional on the principal and interest of the past due deferred payment installment or installments or ten percent of the amount sued for, and in the event judgment is necessary to effect collection, ten percent of the amount of the judgment rendered, as attorneys fees. Provided that, said attorneys fees shall be payable by the property owner only if demand by the commission through registered or certified mail has been made on the property owner and he has failed to pay the amount due within ten days after such demand.

(5) A certified copy of the resolution levying the parcel fee on the real estate shall be filed with the clerk of court of St. Tammany Parish, who shall forthwith record the same in the mortgage records of the parish, and when so filed and recorded, shall operate as a lien and privilege against all real estate therein assessed, and which aforesaid lien and privilege shall prime all other claims except taxes and prior recorded special assessments. Said lien and privilege shall continue in full force and effect until paid in full and need not be reinscribed in the mortgage records so long as there are outstanding and unpaid in principal or interest any evidences of indebtedness issued by the commission and outstanding which are secured by said parcel fee.

(6) Any errors in descriptions or amounts in any resolution imposing such parcel fees adopted pursuant to this Section may be corrected by the adoption of an amendatory resolution which need set forth only the corrected descriptions or amounts and which amendatory resolution shall be recorded in the same manner as the original resolution levying the parcel fees. The adoption of any such corrective resolution shall serve only to postpone the thirty-day period for payment in full of the parcel fees actually affected and corrected by such amendatory resolution, and the due dates of the installments of such parcel fees so corrected as are not paid in full in cash within thirty days from the date of the adoption of the amendatory resolution, shall be the same as the due dates of the installments of the parcel fees levied in the original resolution and not affected or corrected by any such amendatory resolution or resolutions.

(7) Any parcel fee imposed pursuant to this Subsection may be collected in the same manner as ad valorem taxes, special assessments or as specified in the resolution imposing such parcel fee levied by the commission or the parish governing authority. The proceeds of such parcel fee shall be used for any of the purposes specified in R.S. 33:4064.1.

D.(1) The commission may establish and assess sewerage and water rates to be charged within the unincorporated portion of St. Tammany Parish for sewerage and water facilities, owned, operated, or leased by the commission. The commission may also establish sewerage and water rates to be charged within the unincorporated portion of St. Tammany Parish for such sewerage and water facilities subject to the provisions of Paragraph (2) of this Subsection. Such rates shall be equal and uniform for each grade or class of customers or beneficiaries, shall cover the anticipated costs of providing such sewerage or water service, and may include a facilities availability fee to the record owner of any parcel of real property located within said portion of the parish, whether such property is improved or vacant, any portion of which is located within the distance established by state law or rules or regulations of the commission within which connection to any such facility may be required, which fee is designed to defray the expense of making available to adjoining property owners such facility whether or not such facility is connected to any improvements located on any such parcel of real property. Should the owner fail to pay the fee, the commission shall be authorized to file an affidavit of lien on the property, specifically identifying the property affected and the amount of the fee to date of filing and that may be accruing. Subject to proper notice, any such lien filed on real property may be added to the annual ad valorem tax bill of the property owner. The commission shall be authorized to adopt rules and regulations for notice, collection, payment, and cancellation of such charges.

(2) The commission shall have sole authority to enter into an environmental utility service agreement with any public or private provider of sewerage or water service wherein the purpose of such agreement shall be to assign to the provider certain rights of the commission to plan, finance, construct, purchase, own, let, lease, maintain, operate, improve, or otherwise extend sewerage or water systems within the unincorporated portion of St. Tammany Parish. The commission may adopt rules and regulations relative to the assignment of such rights, establishment of environmental utility service districts, term and requirements of said agreement, and fees associated with the application, administration, supervision, and enforcement of said agreement.

E. The commission may establish and assess fees for inspecting sewerage and water systems; for reviewing plans and specifications of such systems; for monitoring the construction or operation of such systems; and for other services authorized by this Subpart. The commission shall adopt rules and regulations for notice, collection, payment, waiver, and cancellation of such fees.

F. Subject to the approval of the State Bond Commission, and further subject to the approval of the governing authority of St. Tammany Parish, the commission shall have the authority to incur debt and issue bonds, notes, certificates of indebtedness or other evidences of indebtedness secured by any tax, fee, charge or other source of revenue available to the commission. Any such evidence of indebtedness shall be issued pursuant to a resolution adopted by majority vote of the members of the commission. The commission may issue general obligation bonds upon compliance with the provisions of Article VI, Section 33 of the Louisiana Constitution and may issue revenue bonds in accordance with the provisions of Part XIII of Chapter 4, Chapter 13, and Chapter 13-A, all of Title 39 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950. The commission shall have the authority to issue refunding bonds in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 14 and Chapter 14-A of Title 39 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950. The commission is hereby authorized to issue sewerage certificates or water certificates, pursuant to Subpart A, Part II, Chapter 9 of Title 33 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950 or Chapter 8 of Title 33 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, including the provisions of Section 3822.2 thereof, respectively; provided, however, that the commission may issue sewerage certificates and water certificates secured by assessments on real property only within that portion of the unincorporated areas of St. Tammany Parish defined by ordinance of the St. Tammany Parish Police Jury as the "Growth Management Area" as amended from time to time. The commission is also hereby authorized to issue certificates of indebtedness pursuant to R.S. 39:745 and is further authorized to incur debt and issue bonds for any purpose authorized herein pursuant to any statute of the state of Louisiana providing for the issuance of debt by political subdivisions of the state of Louisiana. The bonds and the income thereof shall be exempt from all taxation in the state of Louisiana. Such bonds or other evidences of indebtedness shall be issued in the name of the commission and shall not constitute obligations of St. Tammany Parish, or the state of Louisiana.

G. In all cases where a proposition concerning the issuance of debt, the imposition of an ad valorem tax, sales and use tax, annual lot or parcel fee, assessment, or any other proposal is required by law to be submitted by the commission to the electors of the unincorporated areas of St. Tammany Parish, such proposition shall be submitted only with the prior approval of the governing authority of St. Tammany Parish and the parish planning commission and after such approval may be submitted to the electors within a portion of the unincorporated areas of St. Tammany Parish comprising less than the whole of such unincorporated areas provided that any such lesser portion is defined as to geographic area by identifiable boundaries established by resolution of the commission and such area is contained within that portion of the unincorporated areas of St. Tammany Parish defined by ordinance of the St. Tammany Parish Police Jury as the "Growth Management Area" as amended from time to time. Any proposition approved by the majority of the electors voting thereon in any election held within any such lesser portion of the unincorporated areas of St. Tammany Parish shall only have effect within the geographic area voting on such proposition. Any election called under these provisions shall be held at the same time as a regularly scheduled election.

H.(1) Prior to the imposition, authorization, levy, and collection of any sewerage service fee, water service fee, or any local or special assessment the proceeds of which shall be used for the construction, improvement, or extension of sewage collection and treatment facilities or water production, treatment, storage, and distribution facilities, the commission shall cause to be mailed to each property owner to be assessed or to each person or other entity to be charged such fee, notice advising each such property owner being assessed or each person or entity to be charged any such fee, of the proposed assessment or fee and the manner and time for payment and collection thereof.

(2) Said notice shall set forth a general description of the proposed improvements to be financed through the imposition of said assessment or fee, if any, or any other proposed use of the proposed assessment or fee, such description of the property to be assessed or charged such fee and the location thereof as the commission may deem necessary. Said notice shall advise the addressee thereof that such person may object to the imposition of said assessment or fee by causing to be delivered to the commission within thirty days from the date of mailing of a written notice of objection to the imposition of such assessment or fee. The clerk or secretary of the commission shall tabulate the return of the notices of objection no less than seven days after expiration of the thirty-day period for filing of written notice of objection.

(3) The notice shall be sent by United States mail, postage prepaid, first class, addressed to the property owner at his address as it appeared on the last approved tax roll on which the property was assessed for property tax purposes, or if such addressee is not a property owner, such other reasonable address as is available to the commission, at which address addressee is to be rendered the service for which the fee is being charged.

(4) A certificate of the clerk or secretary of the commission stating that the notice has been given in writing to all persons required to receive such notice shall establish a conclusive legal presumption that notice was filed and received by each addressee and failure of any addressee to return an objection shall establish a conclusive legal presumption that such addressee has no opposition to the imposition of the special assessment or fee. In lieu of such certificate, an affidavit by the president of an incorporated homeowners organization to the effect that the required notice has been personally delivered shall establish a conclusive legal presumption of notice.

(5) If a majority of the property owners to be assessed or persons to be charged with the special fee object to the imposition or levy in the manner provided in this Subsection, the fee or assessment shall not be imposed.

I. The commission is authorized to issue revenue bonds or other debt obligations which may be secured by a mortgage on the lands, buildings, machinery, and equipment, or by the pledge of the income and revenues derived or to be derived from any work of public improvement owned, leased, or operated by the commission, or both.

J. The commission is authorized to receive and accept from any source, grants for or in aid of the construction of the facilities owned or operated by the commission or additions or extensions thereto, and to receive and accept aid or contributions from any source, of either money, property, or other things of value to be held, used, and applied only for the purposes for which such grants and contributions may be made.

K. The commission may establish and assess development impact fees, the proceeds of which shall be used for the production of engineering assessments, major facilities master plans, development plans to be approved by the governing authority of St. Tammany Parish as such development plans relate to the planning, adjustment, and relocation of sewerage and water systems within the unincorporated portion of St. Tammany Parish, and for related and associated professional services and costs. To defray the costs associated with the gathering, sorting, reviewing, interpreting, correlating, and categorizing of information and documents associated with the development and/or installation of sewerage and/or water systems in, or to be located in the unincorporated portion of St. Tammany Parish, the governing authority of St. Tammany Parish shall remit to the commission fees the amount of which shall be determined in accordance with the following formulas:

(1) For building permit applications: five dollars plus one cent per square foot for residential and mobile home plan review, and two cents for commercial plan review.

(2) For subdivision applications: twenty dollars plus five dollars per lot upon application for tentative plan approval, ten dollars per lot upon application for preliminary plan approval, and fifteen dollars per lot upon application for final plan approval.

Acts 1986, No. 934, §1; Acts 1989, No. 782, §1, eff. July 9, 1989; Acts 1990, No. 805, §1, eff. July 24, 1990; Acts 1992, No. 1051, §1, eff. July 13, 1992; Acts 1993, No. 833, §1, eff. June 22, 1993.