2018 Louisiana Laws
Revised Statutes
TITLE 38 - Public Contracts, Works and Improvements
RS 38:2707 - Powers of the board

§2707. Powers of the board

In order to accomplish the purposes for which the district is created, the board of commissioners may:

(1) Purchase, hold, sell, and convey immovable and movable property and execute such contracts as it may deem necessary or convenient to enable it properly to carry out the purposes for which it is created.

(2) Acquire servitudes and rights of use by purchase, by expropriation, and by assignment for the reservoir or recreational areas or otherwise.

(3) Assist in conserving soil and water and in developing the water resources of the district; provided, however, nothing shall be done to interfere with districts or municipalities previously organized under Louisiana law.

(4) Cooperate with the state Department of Transportation and Development and other state agencies in the maintenance or improvement and the construction of any works or improvements for the control, retention, diversion, or utilization of water; retard runoff of water and soil erosion, construct any ditch, channel improvement, dike, dam, or levee, and repair, improve, and maintain any of said improvements or structure.

(5) Acquire movable property by donation or purchase; and employ and hire a secretary and other such personnel as may be necessary in the operation of the business of the district, and fix their compensation; and the commission is further authorized to employ engineers, attorneys, and other professional personnel as the need becomes necessary and fix their compensation.

(6) Levy taxes, issue bonds, and incur indebtedness within the limitations prescribed by the Constitution of Louisiana, and in the manner prescribed thereby.

(7) Cooperate and contract with persons, firms, associations, partnerships, private corporations, cities of this state, or other public corporations, and with any other local, state, and governmental agencies for the sale or use of any waters impounded hereby.

(8) Select a domicile and home office for the district.

(9) Grant franchises to telephone, telegraph, and electric power companies and grant franchises for the purposes of laying gas, water, sewer, electric light or other utilities to supply the inhabitants or any person or corporation with gas, water, sewerage, light, when such construction is within the reservoir, the surcharge area, being that property between the 138.5 contour line and the 147.5 contour line or 1/4th of a mile extending perpendicular to the 138.5 contour line.

(10) REPEALED BY ACTS 1993, NO. 830, §2.

(11) Appoint, hire, designate, and empower wardens, rangers, patrols, and such other personnel as may be deemed necessary by the commission for the enforcement of such regulations as may be promulgated and adopted by the said commission.

(12) The district shall have, with respect to the improvements and maintenance of the district, the advice of the Department of Transportation and Development, and it shall request from time to time the assistance of the department to make such surveys, inspections, and investigations, render such reports, estimates, and recommendations, and furnish such plans and specifications as the board of commissioners of the said district may request from time to time.

(13) The district is hereby authorized to incur debt for any one or more of its lawful purposes, to issue in its name negotiable bonds or certificates of indebtedness evidencing such debt, and to provide for the security and payment thereof as follows:

(a) To issue certificates of indebtedness maturing within one year from date of issuance to evidence money borrowed in anticipation of current revenues for the administration, operation, construction, and maintenance costs and expenses of the district, which certificates shall be payable in principal and interest from any available income, revenues, fees, or taxes pledged to their payment by the district.

(b) To issue bonds substantially in the manner set forth in Article VI of the Constitution of Louisiana, and other authority supplemental thereto, particularly Part III of Chapter 4 of Title 39 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950. Such bonds shall be payable from an ad valorem tax on all taxable property in the district sufficient to pay such bonds in principal and interest, when approved by vote of a majority in number of the qualified electors voting on the proposition at an election held for that purpose in accordance with Part II of said Chapter 4, Title 39. Such bonds be that prescribed by such law. The bonds shall be issued in such amount or amounts as the board of commissioners shall determine; provided, however, the principal amount of all such bonds outstanding as of the date of the issuance of any new bonds shall never exceed ten per cent of the assessed valuation of the taxable property within the district, to be ascertained by the last assessment roll of record in the Parish of Red River.

(14) The district shall have additional authority to levy taxes under the provisions of Article VI, Section 32 of the Constitution of Louisiana, for the purpose of improving, operating and maintaining its facilities, providing any such tax shall first be approved at an election held for said purposes in accordance with Part II of Chapter 4 of Title 39 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, as amended.

(15) The copy of any resolution levying a tax, certified by the secretary of the board of commissioners of said district, shall be transmitted to the tax assessor of the parish on or before May first of the year in which the tax is to be assessed and collected, and it shall be the duty of the assessor to assess the tax and extend the same upon the tax rolls of the parish. The tax shall be collected by the sheriff and ex officio tax collector of the parish in the same manner as taxes levied by the state. The tax collector shall make settlement for taxes so collected with the state treasurer for the account of the respective district, and the funds so derived shall be withdrawn upon the warrant of the secretary of the board of commissioners of the reservoir district countersigned by the president of said commission. Taxes assessed shall constitute the same liens upon the property assessed; shall bear the same penalties; and collection thereof shall be enforced in the same manner and at the same time as state and parish taxes.

(16) The parish shall not be entitled to reimbursement out of the property tax relief fund for any sums which may be lost to it occasioned by any homestead exemption which may be applicable to any property within the parish with respect to any tax levied under the authority of this part, as amended.

Acts 1989, No. 176, §1; Acts 1993, No. 120, §1; Acts 1993, No. 830, §2.