2018 Louisiana Laws
Revised Statutes
TITLE 38 - Public Contracts, Works and Improvements
RS 38:2603 - District as political subdivision and body corporate; purpose and powers; issuing bonds and levying taxes
§2603. District as political subdivision and body corporate; purpose and powers; issuing bonds and levying taxes
The Cypress-Black Bayou Recreation and Water Conservation District so created shall be a political subdivision of the State of Louisiana, shall constitute a waterworks district under the provisions of Article XIV, Section 14 of the Constitution of the State of Louisiana for the year 1921, as amended, and shall have all the rights, powers, privileges and immunities hereinafter set forth. Additionally, the district shall be a budgetary unit of the State of Louisiana and shall have for its purpose the development of the wealth and natural resources of the district by the conservation of water for agricultural, municipal, recreational, commercial, industrial and sanitary purposes. It shall constitute a body corporate in law with all the powers, rights, privileges and immunities of a public corporation, and all powers necessary for it to carry out the objects for which it was created. It shall have the power to sue and be sued and to buy and sell all types of property, both real and personal, and to expropriate in accordance with law any properties which may be necessary for the accomplishment of its purposes as herein contemplated. It shall have the authority to negotiate and execute contracts, to acquire by purchase, gift, expropriation or otherwise every type and specie of property and servitudes, rights of way and flowage rights necessary to its purpose, and to construct, build, purchase, lease, operate and maintain any facilities, works or machinery designed to accomplish the purposes of the district. It shall have complete control over the supply of fresh water made available by its facilities which shall be administered for the benefit of the persons residing or owning property within the District and if it should be for the benefit of the district it shall have the authority to sell such water for irrigation, municipal and industrial uses both within and outside the district. The district shall constitute an agency of the State of Louisiana designed to carry out an essential governmental function of the State, and all of the property of the district shall be exempt from taxation. It shall have the authority to cooperate and contract with the government of the United States or any department or agency thereof and to accept gifts, grants and donations of property and money therefrom. It shall have the authority to cooperate with the State of Louisiana or any political subdivision, department, agency or corporation of said state for the construction, operation and maintenance of such facilities designed to accomplish the purpose for which the district is created on any basis including the matching of funds and by participating in projects authorized by any federal or state law as it shall see fit.
The district shall have authority to incur debt, issue negotiable bonds and levy taxes for the purpose of constructing, acquiring, extending or improving any lands, reservoirs, levees, channels, canals, pipe lines, pumping stations, waterworks plants and any other facilities, including buildings, machinery and equipment, for the development of the wealth and natural resources of the district by the conservation and use of water for agricultural, municipal, recreational, commercial, industrial and sanitary purposes, including the acquisition of all lands incidental or necessary for the construction, use and enjoyment thereof, such purpose being hereby found and declared to be a public purpose. Any such bonds payable from ad valorem taxation shall be issued under the terms and provisions of Sub-Part A, Part III, Chapter 4, Title 39 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, and any revenue bonds shall be issued under the terms and provisions of Sub-Part B or Sub-Part C of Part I, Chapter 10, Title 33 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, provided, however, that any bonds so issued shall first be approved at a taxpayers election held in the manner prescribed by Part II, Chapter 4, Title 39 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950. In each instance the board of commissioners of the district shall be the governing authority of the district and shall have all of the rights, powers and privileges conferred upon the respective governing authorities by said statutes. Additionally, the district shall have authority to levy taxes under the provisions of Article X, Section 10 of the Constitution for the purpose of improving, operating and maintaining its facilities, provided any such tax shall first be approved at a taxpayers election as therein required. In the event any of the aforesaid parts of the Revised Statutes are in conflict with the provisions of this Part, then the provisions of this Part shall control, but in all other respects the cited portions of the Revised Statutes shall apply to the district for the purposes herein indicated.
Added by Acts 1958, No. 292, §3. Amended by Acts 1966, No. 198, §1.
