§1808. St. Charles drainage districts

A. The governing authority of the parish of St. Charles, state of Louisiana, is hereby authorized to create drainage districts comprised of all or any portion of the territory of St. Charles Parish.

B. The governing authority of each drainage district shall be the St. Charles Parish Council.

C. Any drainage district created hereunder shall be considered a political subdivision of the state of Louisiana, and is granted and shall have all the powers necessary to construct and acquire projects, works, improvements, and equipment to improve and facilitate drainage within such district and which shall include, but without limitation, the authority to construct projects for the drainage of lands in the district by the construction, improvement, extension, renewal, or replacement of drainage facilities, including canals, ditches, pumps, levees and related buildings, machinery, rights of way, and sites. Each district is also granted and shall have all powers necessary or convenient for the carrying out of such purposes including but without limiting the foregoing provisions of this Section, the following rights and powers:

(1) To acquire, purchase, lease as lessee, and hold and use any franchise, property, real, personal or mixed, tangible or intangible, or any interest therein necessary or desirable for carrying out the purposes of the authority, and to sell, lease, transfer, and dispose of any property or interest therein at any time acquired by it.

(2) To acquire by purchase, lease, or otherwise and to construct, improve, maintain, repair and operate improvements, equipment, or facilities which it deems necessary or convenient to carry out its purposes.

(3) To enter into agreements of any nature with any person or persons (natural or artificial), corporation, association or other entity, including public corporations, political subdivisions, municipalities, the United States government and agencies thereof, the state of Louisiana or any of its agencies, or any combination thereof, or with instrumentalities of every kind, for the operation of all or any part of the properties, improvements, equipment, and facilities of the district.

(4) To make and enter into contracts, conveyances, mortgages, deeds or trusts, bonds, and leases in the carrying out of its purposes.

(5) To let contracts for the construction or acquisition in any other manner of property, improvements, and facilities incident to the carrying out of the purposes of the district.

(6) To fix, maintain, collect, and revise rates and charges for the construction, operation, and maintenance of improvements, equipment, or facilities of the district and the services rendered thereby.

(7) To make bylaws for the management and regulation of its affairs.

(8) To cooperate with and enter into cooperative agreements and arrangements with agencies of the United States of America, the state of Louisiana, and its various departments and political subdivisions, on a matching fund or any other basis in all drainage projects.

(9) To purchase servitudes and rights of way for its own uses or for the use of any state or federal agency with which it may cooperate in connection with some work of improvement.

(10) To drain lands in said district by the construction, maintenance, and operation of gravity and/or forced drainage facilities, including drains, drainage canals, ditches, pumps, and pumping plants, dikes, levees, and other related works.

(11) To incur debt and issue general obligation bonds of the district for the purpose of constructing said gravity or forced drainage facilities and acquiring the necessary lands, equipment, and machinery therefor. The bonds shall be secured by and payable from ad valorem taxation and may be issued to an amount not exceeding the debt limit established for the issuance of general obligation bonds by R.S. 39:562 and in the manner provided for the issuance of bonds by other political subdivisions under the provisions of Subpart A, Part III, Chapter 4, Title 39 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950 and other constitutional and statutory authority supplemental thereto. Such bonds shall be issued only after being approved at an election ordered by its governing authority and held in accordance with the provisions of Part II, Chapter 4, Title 39 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes.

(12) To levy and collect a parcel fee, which parcel fee shall be imposed by resolution of the governing authority of a district only after notice of intention to impose the parcel fee and the purpose, rate, and duration of the parcel fee has been published in four consecutive weekly issues of a newspaper of general circulation published in St. Charles Parish, setting forth a date and time when the governing authority will meet in open and public session to hear any objections to the proposed levy and collection of such parcel fee; provided, however, that if at such hearing a petition duly signed by electors of the district in a number not less than five percent of the number of such electors voting at the last special or general election object to the levy and collection of such parcel fee, then such parcel fee shall not be levied and collected until approved by a vote of a majority of the qualified electors of the district who vote at a special election held for that purpose in the manner provided by Chapter 6-A of Title 18 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950. Any such petition shall be accompanied by a certificate of the parish registrar of voters certifying that the signers of the petition are registered electors of the district and the number of signers amount to not less than five percent of the registered electors that voted in the last tax election in said district. Any parcel fee imposed pursuant to this Section shall be levied and collected and be due and owing annually. Any such parcel fee levied under this Section shall not be applicable to manufacturing or electrical generating facilities in St. Charles Parish. Such fee may be carried on the tax rolls of St. Charles Parish and collected at the same time as parish ad valorem taxes. If any parcel fee is not paid when due, a district shall proceed against the parcel for the collection of the amount of the fee unpaid and delinquent, any collection costs incurred by such district plus interest at the rate of twelve percent on the unpaid amount of the parcel fee, and in the event legal proceedings are necessary to effect collection, court costs, and reasonable attorney's fees. Provided, however, that attorney's fees shall be payable by the parcel owner only if demand by the governing authority of such district has been made on the parcel owner by registered or certified mail, and such parcel owner has failed to pay the amount due within ten days after such demand. A judgment obtained for nonpayment of a parcel fee, upon being recorded in the mortgage records in St. Charles Parish, shall prime all other liens except those for taxes and prior recorded local or special assessments levied for street, sewerage, or water improvements. If there are one or more property mortgages on such parcel and the mortgage holder or holders have notified the tax collector in St. Charles Parish of such recorded mortgage in accordance with the requirements of R.S. 47:2180.1, a district, prior to proceedings against such parcel for failure to pay a parcel fee, shall give notice to each mortgagee of the amount of the parcel fee due and owing on such parcel and that such parcel fee must be paid within twenty days after the mailing of the notice or proceedings will be commenced against the parcel. Such notice shall be sent to each such mortgage holder by certified mail return receipt requested or made by personal or domiciliary service on such mortgage holder.

(13) To incur debt and issue bonds payable from the proceeds of a parcel fee. Such bonds may be sold at public or private sale and shall be issued pursuant to the provisions of a resolution adopted by the governing authority of the district, provided, however, the bonds shall mature over a period not to exceed the period for which the parcel fee, the proceeds of which are to be used to pay principal and interest on the bonds, is authorized. Such bonds and the income therefrom shall be exempt from taxation by the state of Louisiana and by any parish, municipality, or political subdivision thereof.

(14) To levy special taxes on all the property within such district for the purposes of maintaining, operating, constructing, and improving the drainage works in such district in the manner authorized by Article VI, Section 32 of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974 after having been authorized to do so at a special election held in accordance with provisions of Part II, Chapter 4, Title 39 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes.

(15) To expropriate property for the purpose of acquiring sites for pumping stations and land for any other necessary public purposes of the district; provided, however, the district shall not have the right to expropriate minerals or mineral rights.

(16) To acquire machinery and maintain pumping plants or any machinery whatever that may be found necessary for the purpose of draining any of the lands embraced within the district.

(17) To cut and open any drains and canals and open, deepen, and enlarge natural drainage within or without the district and perform all work in connection therewith which may be deemed necessary to provide drainage for the lands in the district, and perform all of the acts necessary to drain the land in the district and maintain the drainage when established.

(18) To accept gifts and grants of money, property, or services.

(19) To extend canals or ditches or both canals and ditches beyond the limits of the district for the purpose of securing a proper outlet for the waters of the district.

(20) To construct, acquire, improve, and/or maintain levees.

(21) To levy and collect drainage charges on a square foot basis. Any municipal corporation, parish, or water district operating a water system shall have the power to execute a contract with any drainage district created pursuant to this Section, and any such drainage district is authorized and empowered to execute and enter into a contract with any municipal corporation, parish, or water district providing water service to the resident of such drainage district, which contract may contain such terms and privileges as may be agreed upon between the parties thereto pursuant to which drainage charges imposed by such drainage district will be collected by the municipal corporation, parish, or water district, or provide for a procedure to enforce collection of drainage charges by an agreement to shut off the services of the supply of water to any premises delinquent in the payment of either its water charges or drainage charges.

D. A "parcel" as used in this Section shall mean a lot, a subdivided portion of ground, or an individual tract, except in the case where the home and grounds of a property owner which constitute his principal residence and serve as his domicile comprise two or more adjoining parcels, such parcels shall be considered as one parcel.

Acts 1987, No. 716, §1, eff. July 16, 1987.