§2740.9. Certain parishes; special taxing districts; additional sales and use tax; ad valorem tax

            A. The governing authority of a parish with a population of more than four hundred and forty thousand persons as established by the most recent federal decennial census is hereby authorized to create within the parish one or more capital improvement districts which may contain all or any portion of the territory contained within the present boundaries of the parish. Each district created under the authority of this Section shall be created by ordinance of the governing authority of the parish setting forth the area or areas of the parish to be included in the district. The governing authority of the parish shall be the governing authority for any district so created.

            B.(1) In order to fund projects of capital improvement within any district created pursuant to the provisions of this Section, including but not limited to improvements to public roads, streets, and gravity drainage works, the governing authority of the parish, as the governing authority of the district, is hereby authorized to levy a sales and use tax not exceeding one percent within the district, subject to an exemption for food for home consumption and prescription drugs, and subject to the approval of a majority of the electors voting in the election who reside in the district.

            (2) The tax shall be imposed by ordinance and shall be levied upon the sale at retail, the use, the lease or rental, the consumption, the distribution, and storage for consumption, of tangible personal property, and upon the sales of services within the district, all as presently or hereafter defined in R.S. 47:301 through 317, both inclusive, except that the sale at retail, the use, the consumption, the distribution, and the storage for use or consumption, in the parish of food for home consumption, as defined in R.S. 47:305(D)(1)(n) through (r), and prescription drugs, as defined in R.S. 47:305(D)(1)(j), is hereby specifically exempted from the tax authorized by this Section.

            (3) This tax shall be in addition to all other taxes currently levied in the parish, and, except where inapplicable, the procedure established by R.S. 47:301 through 317 shall be followed in the imposition, collection, and enforcement of the tax and procedural details necessary to be established to supplement the provisions of those Sections and to make said provisions applicable to the tax herein authorized shall be fixed in the ordinance imposing the tax.

            C. In order to fund projects of capital improvement within any district created pursuant to the provisions of this Section, including but not limited to improvements to public roads, streets, and gravity drainage works, the governing authority of the parish, is hereby authorized to levy an ad valorem tax on property located within the boundaries of the district, subject to the approval of a majority of the electors voting in the election who reside in the district.

            D.(1) Prior to adoption of any ordinance levying a tax under the provisions of this Section, the governing authority of the parish shall hold at least one public meeting to consider the proposed capital improvements and the tax or taxes to be levied to fund the improvements. Notice of the time and place of the meeting shall be published once a week in three different weeks in the official journal of the parish. At least fifteen days shall elapse between the first publication and the date of the meeting.

            (2) At any time after the meeting the governing authority may call an election at which there shall be submitted to the qualified electors of the area within the district a proposition to authorize the imposition of the sales tax or the ad valorem tax, or both, including the capital improvements to be funded and the rate and duration of the tax, and a majority of those voting in the election shall have voted in favor of the proposition.

            (3) The proposition may also include provisions authorizing the funding of the additional sales tax or the ad valorem tax into negotiable bonds or certificates of indebtedness payable solely from an irrevocable pledge and dedication of all or a portion of the proceeds of the tax or taxes, subject to the prior payment of the costs and expenses of administration and collection of the tax.

            E. The proceeds of any tax authorized by and levied in accordance with the provisions of this Section shall be used exclusively for capital improvements within the district.

            Acts 1984, No. 641, §1; Acts 2019, No. 86, §1, eff. June 4, 2019.

NOTE: See Acts 2019, No. 86, §2, regarding retroactive application of tax exemptions for food and prescription drugs.