SUBPART H. LEVYING AND COLLECTION OF

TAXES; EXPENDITURE OF FUNDS

§461. Assessment and collection of municipal taxes; tax sales; sale to municipality

A.(1)(a) The municipal assessment of property for taxation shall be made by the clerk or tax collector, by copying from the parish assessment rolls that portion which embraces property or persons within the corporate limits. The copy may be made at any time after the assessment rolls are approved, and all changes in the parish assessment thereafter made shall likewise be made in the copy. The copy shall be placed in the hands of the municipal tax collector and be his warrant for the collection of municipal taxes.

(b) Notwithstanding any other laws to the contrary, the city of Lake Charles may prorate municipal ad valorem taxes on property which has been annexed into the city for the year in which the taxes are first applicable and due. The taxes shall be prorated based upon the effective date of the annexation in order to reflect that portion of the year that the property was actually within the corporate limits.

(2) In all cases where persons or property have escaped taxation for a previous year, the clerk shall assess the same for taxation, and his assessment, when approved by the mayor and board of aldermen, on notice to the person assessed, shall be binding and conclusive, unless appealed from within five days after their approval.

(3) The mayor and board of aldermen shall levy the municipal taxes at the regular meeting in September of each year, or, in case of failure to do so, at any other regular meeting thereafter.

(4)(a) The tax collector shall collect municipal taxes during the time and in the same manner and under the same penalties as the state and parish taxes are collected. He shall, where not otherwise provided, in all particulars, be governed by the general revenue laws of this state, so far as applicable, in making such collection; but he shall make the reports thereby required to the mayor and board of aldermen, and shall pay over the money collected to the municipal treasurer; and shall receive only such commission or compensation as may be allowed by ordinance.

(b) Notwithstanding any other laws to the contrary, property taxes for the city of Westwego shall be due and payable each year on March thirty-first. The tax collector for the city of Westwego shall collect municipal taxes for each year no later than March thirty-first of the year following the calendar year for which the assessment rolls are approved. Otherwise, he shall collect them as provided in this Section and other applicable laws.

B.(1) Sales for the nonpayment of municipal taxes shall be made by the tax collector at such place, within the corporate limits as the mayor and board of aldermen may direct. The sale of real estate and the distraint and sale of personal property shall be made upon the same notice, at the same time, and in the same manner as provided by law for sale of like property for unpaid state and parish taxes.

(2) The deed to the purchasers for lands so sold shall be filed with the parish clerk of court, and there remain subject to redemption for the same length of time, and in the same manner as prescribed for the redemption of land sold for state and parish taxes.

(3) Where lands are offered for sale for unpaid municipal taxes, and a person will not bid therefor, the amount of taxes, damages, and costs due the same shall be struck off to the municipality, and otherwise dealt with as lands which are sold to the state for delinquent state and parish taxes. The board may pay the state and parish taxes on lands thus acquired by it, and collect the money thus paid, with the damages and interest allowed individuals in similar cases under the general revenue laws of the state thereon, from the date of such payment, upon the redemption of the lands from the municipal sale.

(4) The deeds of the tax collectors to individuals and a list of the lands sold to the municipality, which shall be made as required to be made by the state and parish collector, shall be filed within ten days after the tax sale, with the municipal clerk. Each shall have the same force and effect, and confer the same right, and be entitled to the same remedies, as deeds and lists made for delinquent taxes by the state and parish tax collector, but such title shall be subject to a title acquired under a sale for state and parish taxes.

C.(1) If the governing authority of the town of Sterlington or Richwood enters an agreement pursuant to R.S. 47:2051.1, the provisions of Subsections A and B of this Section shall not apply to the municipality to the extent they are in conflict with R.S. 47:2051.1 and any agreement authorized by and entered into pursuant thereto.

(2) If the governing authority of the city of Denham Springs enters an agreement pursuant to R.S. 47:2051.2, the provisions of Subsections A and B of this Section shall not apply to the municipality to the extent they are in conflict with R.S. 47:2051.2 and any agreement authorized by and entered into pursuant thereto.

Acts 1997, No. 1044, §2; Acts 1999, No. 1106, §2; Acts 2003, No. 284, §1, eff. June 10, 2003; Acts 2003, No. 1112, §1, eff. July 2, 2003.