Campbell v. St. Tammany Parish Police Jury

517 So. 2d 192, 1987 La. App. LEXIS 10692, 1987 WL 1494
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 10, 1987
Docket87 CA 0476
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 517 So. 2d 192 (Campbell v. St. Tammany Parish Police Jury) 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
Campbell v. St. Tammany Parish Police Jury, 517 So. 2d 192, 1987 La. App. LEXIS 10692, 1987 WL 1494 (La. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

517 So.2d 192 (1987)

Otis CAMPBELL, et al.
v.
ST. TAMMANY PARISH POLICE JURY, et al.

No. 87 CA 0476.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

November 10, 1987.
Rehearing Denied January 19, 1988.
Writ Denied February 26, 1988.

*193 Patrick J. Berrigan, Slidell, Normand F. Pizza, New Orleans, Elaine W. Guillot, Slidell, for plaintiffs-appellants.

Ronald Guth, Slidell, for intervenors-appellants.

Julian J. Rodrigue, Jr., Covington, for defendants-appellees.

Michael R. Fontham, Denise M. Pilie, New Orleans, for other appellees.

Before COVINGTON, C.J., and SHORTESS and SAVOIE, JJ.

SHORTESS, Judge.

This is an appeal by Otis Campbell, David Squires, individually and as Tax Collector for the City of Slidell, Northshore Limited Partnership, Herman P. Waschka, Ted and Mary Burhenn, Edward B. Denechaud, and the City of Slidell (plaintiffs) and intervenors Town of Pearl River, Louisiana (Town), Donna Crawford Karchner, Richard G. Karchner, Ruby Mae Pettit Crawford, and Arnold K. Crawford who allege varied flaws—both procedural and substantive—with the St. Tammany Parish Police Jury's creation of Sales Tax District Number 3 (District); with the District's electoral approval of a District-wide 2% sales tax; and with the application of the tax.[1]

*194 The trial court's findings are summarized as follows: On July 17, 1986, the St. Tammany Parish Police Jury (Police Jury) by unanimous vote suspended its rules of order to enact an ordinance creating the District from all territory not within then existing corporate boundaries; the Police Jury published the ordinance in its official journal on August 3, 1986; thereafter, on August 21, the Police Jury adopted a resolution setting forth a proposition authorizing a 2% sales tax to be used to fund bonds for the purpose of road improvement, to be put before the electorate on November 4, 1986. An ordinance was then introduced designating in terms of priority the roads to be improved from the proceeds of the sales-tax-funded bond issue. The District-wide election was held as scheduled resulting in the approval of the tax package. On November 20, a resolution canvassing the returns and declaring the result was adopted and, again by unanimous vote, the Police Jury suspended its regular rules of order to immediately adopt an ordinance levying the tax.

With these findings and a judgment adverse to them, plaintiffs specify error as follows:

I. The Trial Court erred in not finding that the due process rights of the Appellants were violated by the actions of the Police Jury in the creation of the District and the imposition of the sales tax.
II. The Trial Court erred in not finding that the equal protection rights of Appellants were violated by the actions of the Police Jury.
III. The Trial Court erred in finding that the Police Jury had authority to call the election and that the election was not null and void due to the lack of authority of the Police Jury's call of the election and the denial by the Police Jury of the right to vote to citizens of municipalities.
IV. The trial court erred in finding that issues as to the composition of the District and the uniform levy and collection of the tax were not before the Court.

Intervenors specify error in the trial court's finding that the Police Jury's actions comport with due process.

Plaintiffs are municipal residents and not members of the district created. They assert that the creation of the District without adequate notice to the parish residents violated their right to due process as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and the Louisiana Constitution, Article 1, Section 2. In Corbello v. Sutton, 442 So.2d 610 (La. App. 1st Cir.1983), aff'd, 446 So.2d 301 (La.1984), this court recognized, again, the fundamental precept that an initial requirement of any due process claim is the existence of a liberty or property interest adversely affected. A threshold requirement of a due process claim under the Fourteenth Amendment, likewise, is the existence of such interest. O'Bannon v. Town Court Nursing Center, 447 U.S. 773, 100 S.Ct. 2467, 65 L.Ed.2d 506 (1980). The trial court determined that plaintiffs lacked the requisite interest to have been adversely affected by the creation of the District excluding municipal residents for the purpose of self-imposed taxation of the District residents. We agree. The obligation to pay taxes is concomitant with the many benefits of membership in a civilized society. A right to be taxed may not be. Plaintiffs have asserted, at most, that a "right to annex" was impinged because the creation of the district resulted in the passing of the tax, thereby discouraging annexation. There is no constitutionally-guaranteed right to annex. Kel-Kan Investment Corporation v. Village of Greenwood, 428 So.2d 401 (La.1983). Annexation is arguably a specie of property interest, but such interest would belong to the members of the District—the electorate who authorized the tax now complained of. Moreover, there is no constitutional requirement that a legislative body poll its electorate or otherwise entertain their views before performing its legislative function. See Bi-Metallic Investment Company v. State Board of Equalization, 239 U.S. 441, 36 S.Ct. 141, 60 L.Ed. 372 (1915).

In connection with their second specification of error, plaintiffs assert that the creation of the district to the exclusion *195 of municipal residents,[2] disqualifying these persons from the District electorate, violates the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The District was created and its election conducted pursuant to the provisions of LSA-R.S. 33:2721.6. In Holt Civic Club v. City of Tuscaloosa, 439 U.S. 60, 99 S.Ct. 383, 58 L.Ed.2d 292 (1978), an Alabama statutory scheme provided extra-territorial municipal powers throughout a three-mile circumscription of each municipality without allowing the non-municipal residents participation in municipal elections. The court rejected an equal protection challenge to the statute, distinguishing Cipriano v. City of Houma, 395 U.S. 701, 89 S.Ct. 1897, 23 L.Ed.2d 647 (1969) (which upheld a challenge to a Louisiana statute limiting to property owners the right to vote in elections for the approval of revenue bonds) and Kramer v. Union Free School District, 395 U.S. 621, 89 S.Ct. 1886, 23 L.Ed.2d 583 (1969) (which invalidated similar qualifications upon the electorate of school district residents), noting that successful voting qualifications cases involve a statute that limits the electorate of a governmental entity to certain members of its public:

No decision of this Court has extended the "one man, one vote" principle to individuals residing beyond the geographic confines of the governmental entity concerned, be it the State or its political subdivisions.

439 U.S. at 68, 99 S.Ct. at 389. Sales Tax District Number 3 of St.

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517 So. 2d 192, 1987 La. App. LEXIS 10692, 1987 WL 1494, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/campbell-v-st-tammany-parish-police-jury-lactapp-1987.