Audubon Insurance Co. v. Parish of East Baton Rouge

366 So. 2d 972, 1978 La. App. LEXIS 3351
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 27, 1978
DocketNo. 12346
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 366 So. 2d 972 (Audubon Insurance Co. v. Parish of East Baton Rouge) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Audubon Insurance Co. v. Parish of East Baton Rouge, 366 So. 2d 972, 1978 La. App. LEXIS 3351 (La. Ct. App. 1978).

Opinion

LOTTINGER, Judge.

This is a suit by a taxpayer of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, for a refund of ad valorem taxes paid under protest. Plaintiff contends that the ordinance levying the tax is invalid, null and void in its entirety, or in the alternative, that it is invalid, null and void to the extent that the tax levied exceeds five mills. The defendants, Parish of East Baton Rouge and the Parish Council of the Parish of East Baton Rouge, filed a peremptory exception of prescription under the provisions of Art. 6, § 35(A) La.Const. (1974) and La.R.S. 39:513. The trial court sustained the exception and dismissed plaintiff’s suit. Plaintiff has appealed.

The facts are not in dispute. The Parish Council of the Parish of East Baton Rouge created a consolidated garbage district and called an election to authorize the levying of an ad valorem tax of ten mills upon all property located therein for a period of ten years. On April 3, 1976, a tax election was held in the district on two propositions. Proposition number one levied a five mill tax for garbage collection and disposal services. A second proposition levied an additional five mills for the purpose of paying the cost of a second garbage collection each week. Each proposition received a majority of the votes cast. The election returns were promulgated by the parish council on April 14, 1976, and published in the official journal of the parish on April 19, 1976.

During the latter part of 1976, plaintiff received its notice from the sheriff and ex-officio tax collector showing that a tax in the amount of ten mills had been assessed upon its property located in the consolidated garbage district. On December 29, 1976, plaintiff paid, under protest, that portion of the ad valorem tax levied for 1976 in the garbage district, and on January 17, 1977, filed this suit.

Subsequently, on April 13, 1977, the Parish Council for the Parish of East Baton Rouge adopted Ordinance No. 4996 which levied a tax of 9.18 mills upon all property in the garbage district. Plaintiff followed the same pay under protest procedure and filed a supplemental petition on January 18, 1978, to which the defendant again filed a peremptory exception of prescription.

On appeal the plaintiff alleges the following specifications of error:

“1. The District Court erred in concluding that the provisions of Section 35 of Article 6 of the the 1974 Constitution and L.R.S. 18:1294 are clear and free from ambiguity.
2. The District Court erred in holding that the predecessor provisions of Section 35 of Article 6 of the 1974 Constitution were construed so as to prohibit the institution of suits to contest maintenance tax elections, as well as bond elections.
3. The District Court erred in concluding that the provisions of Section 35 of Article 6 of the 1974 Constitution and L.R.S. 18:1294, as construed by the District Court, do not conflict with the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
4. The District Court erred in concluding that a taxpayer, paying ad valorem taxes under protest and filing suit for their recovery, as authorized by L.R.S. 47:2110, must bring the action within sixty days of the promulgation of the results of a special maintenance tax election.
5. The District Court erred in sustaining the exception of prescription.”

Initially, we must resolve the apparent conflict between Article 6, § 35(A) La. Const. (1974) and La.R.S. 39:513 providing for a 60 day peremptive period and the 30 day peremptive period provided provided by La.R.S. 47:2110.

The trial judge held Article 6, § 35(A) La.Const. (1974) was applicable and dismissed plaintiff’s suit. Plaintiff argues that by reference to the transcript of the constitutional convention, the intent of the delegates was to limit the application of Article 6, § 35(A) La.Const. (1974) to bonds. It is further argued by plaintiff that since La.R.S. 39:513 is merely a legislative reenactment of Article 6, § 35(A) La.Const. [974]*974(1974) the same interpretation must apply, and thus, since the election in question did not involve bonds, the only peremptive period applicable is that found in La.R.S. 47:2110.

Conceding arguendo that after studying the constitutional convention debates we were to conclude that Article 6, § 35(A) La.Const. (1974) was only intended to apply to bonds, we do not find that this controls our interpretation of La.R.S. 39:513.

At the time of the election, April 3,1976, and the filing of this suit, January 17, 1977, the applicable law was that enacted by the legislature as Act 18 of 1975, Extraordinary Session.1 Act 18 repealed Part II of Chapter 4 of Title 39 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950 and established a uniform procedure for the conduct of elections to authorize the issuance of bonds, the assumption of indebtedness, and imposition or increase of taxes by political subdivisions. Though Act 18 repealed Part II of Chapter 4 of Subtitle II of Title 39, it did not reenact and renumber those repealed sections of Title 39. This, however, was accomplished under the authority of La.R.S. 24:253, and §§ 1 to 14 of Act 18 were designated La.R.S. 39:501 to 514. Thus, we reach the same result as if the legislature in enacting Act 18 had merely amended and reenacted Part II by repealing the then existing language and inserting the Act 18 language with appropriate revised statute section numbers.

In attempting to understand the intent of the legislature in the enactment of La.R.S. 39:513, it is necessary that we look not only to the language of the statute, but also to its relationship with other sections in the same area of the revised statutes.

Title 39 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes is entitled Public Finance. It is subdivided into two subtitles, Subtitle I- — State Finance and Subtitle II — Local Finance. La. R.S. 39:513 is found under Subtitle II, Local Finance, in Chapter 4, Bonded Indebtedness and Special Taxes. Chapter 4 is further subdivided into twelve parts.2 We note that Chapter 4 does not deal exclusively with bonds or bonded indebtedness, but also authorizes the calling of elections to impose special taxes, and special taxes in aid of specified enterprises. Thus, we must conclude that Part II of Chapter 4 which is entitled Elections, governs any election authorized under Subtitle II, Chapter 4 of Title 39, as well as those statutes making reference to this Part. See La.R.S. 33:8004. This would include elections to authorize the issuance of bonds as well as elections imposing special taxes. Necessarily then the legislature must have intended that La. R.S. 39:513 apply to elections other than bond elections.

Though we have concluded that La.R.S. 39:513 is applicable to tax elections, it still remains for this court to resolve the apparent conflict between La.R.S. 39:513 and La. R.S. 47:2110.

The legislature certainly never intended to provide two separate and distinct per-emptive statutes providing different time periods within which to attack the same tax. Obviously, these statutes were never intended to apply to the same tax; otherwise, havoc would reign and there could be no certainty as to which peremptive period would apply. We, therefore, conclude that La.R.S. 47:2110 was intended to apply to those taxes levied under authority granted the state or political subdivision by the legislature or by the constitution.

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Bluebook (online)
366 So. 2d 972, 1978 La. App. LEXIS 3351, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/audubon-insurance-co-v-parish-of-east-baton-rouge-lactapp-1978.