Denham Springs Economic Development District v. All Taxpayers, Property Owners & Citizens of the Denham Springs Economic Development District

885 So. 2d 1153, 2004 La.App. 1 Cir. 1013, 2004 La. App. LEXIS 1467, 2004 WL 1233946
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 4, 2004
DocketNo. 2004 CA 1013
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 885 So. 2d 1153 (Denham Springs Economic Development District v. All Taxpayers, Property Owners & Citizens of the Denham Springs Economic Development District) 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
Denham Springs Economic Development District v. All Taxpayers, Property Owners & Citizens of the Denham Springs Economic Development District, 885 So. 2d 1153, 2004 La.App. 1 Cir. 1013, 2004 La. App. LEXIS 1467, 2004 WL 1233946 (La. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinions

| .MCCLENDON, J.

This is an appeal by an opponent to a proceeding validating a bond issuance to fund an economic development project in Livingston Parish that would facilitate the location of a Bass Pro Shops retail outlet in the parish. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The Denham Springs Economic Development District (“District”) was created by City Ordinance 03-33 and adopted by a special meeting of the City Council on December 9, 2003. The geographical location of the District is a 74.85 acre tract in the Parish of Livingston, City of Denham Springs, on land south of Interstate 12 and east of Range Avenue. The current proposal, referred to as the Bass Pro Project (“Project”), includes the purchase by the District of twenty-seven acres, construction of retail facilities, including a restaurant, related infrastructures and public improvements, and subsequent location therein of a Bass Pro Shops retail outlet.1 The Project is to be funded through the issuance of revenue bonds secured by the pledge of local government sales tax increments in accordance with La. R.S. 33:9038.1 et seq. After payment of the revenue bonds in full, ownership of the [1156]*1156retail facility would be transferred to Bass Pro for a nominal fee.

In furtherance of this plan, a Cooperative Endeavor Agreement was drafted with the following parties participating: the District; the Parish of Livingston (“Parish”); the City of Denham Springs (“City”); the Law Enforcement District of the Parish of Livingston (“Law Enforcement”); the Livingston Parish School Board (“School Board”) (both as a tax recipient entity and as the tax collector for the Parish); Special Tax District No. 1 of the Parish of Livingston; the Denham Springs Economic Development Corporation; and the State of Louisiana through lathe Secretary of the Department of Revenue (“State”). The agreement provided for each party thereto to contribute sales tax increments toward funding the Project. The issuance of the bonds and the authority of the entities to enter into the Cooperative Endeavor Agreement received approval not only on the local level, by each participating local entities’ governing body, but also thereafter by the State Bond Commission, the Louisiana Department of Economic Development, the Capitol Region Planning Commission, and the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget.

On March 25, 2004, the District filed a “Motion for Judgment” in the 21st Judicial District Court. Therein, plaintiff alleged that it was created pursuant to La. R.S. 33:9038.2 as an economic development district authorized to collect the “sales tax increment[s],” used to secure the issuance of bonds for the financing of economic development projects. The District further alleged its intent to issue bonds amounting to approximately $50,000,000, to be used to fund the Project. Plaintiff further alleged that said bonds would be secured by the pledge of collected sales tax increments by the participating tax recipient entities. As such, the District alleged that it had standing to seek validation of the subject bond issuance pursuant to the “Bond Validation Act,” La. R.S. 13:5121-5130.

On April 8, 2004, A. Ponder Jones filed an answer, exceptions, and defenses to the suit, alleging himself to be a taxpayer, property owner, and resident of Livingston Parish and contending the proposed bond issuance was illegal for a number of reasons.2

Also on April 8, 2004, the School Board filed an answer requesting the district court rule on whether the School Board could pledge sales and use tax revenues for the Project in light of La. Const. Art. VII, § 14 and whether the tax | ¿increment financing statute (“TIF”) authorizes participation of school boards in “TIF” financing where school board revenues are “expressly dedicated to specific purposes.”

On April 22, 2004, a hearing was held in the district court on the issues presented in the bond validation proceeding. Following the hearing, the district court rendered judgment declaring legal and valid: the bonds; the actions and proceedings taken and contemplated by the District in connection with the bond issuance; the Act and its authorization of the Agreement; the participation of the entities to the Agreements; the contemplated transaction granting an option to Bass Pro to purchase the Project for a nominal consideration; the purchase and contemplated lease of the twenty-seven acre tract; and, the means provided for payment of the bonds, including the pledge of sales tax revenues, lease and mortgage of the land. The district court further declared in its judgment that all legal requirements concerning publication, notice, and receipt of the motion [1157]*1157for judgment had been met. The district court also decreed the conclusiveness of the judgment in accordance with the Bond Validation Act, and that the judgment constituted a permanent injunction against further proceedings on the issues decided. The judgment was signed April 26, 2004. This appeal by Mr. Jones followed.

On appeal, Mr. Jones makes the following assignment of errors:

(1) The trial court erred in rendering judgment validating the Bonds because the Bonds are to be secured by a Tax Increment Financing (“TIF”) scheme that uses sales tax funds specifically dedicated by the voters to other uses.
(2) The trial court erred in approving an alternative financing structure for the Bonds when that financing structure had not been finalized and thereafter was rejected by the Livingston Parish School Board.
(3) The trial court erred in rendering judgment approving the. Bonds secured by a proposed TIF scheme that amounts to a loan, | spledge, or donation of funds belonging to the state or a political subdivision, in violation of La. Const. Art. VII, § 14(A).

DISCUSSION

Because this appeal is taken pursuant to the Bond Validation Act, La. R.S. 13:5121-5130, it has been assigned expedited status. In any action affecting the validity of governmental bonds, the provisions of La. R.S. 13:5121 through 13:5130 “supercede all other acts and statutes on the subject.” La. R.S. 13:5122.

In general, review under the Bond Validation Act is restricted by La. R.S. 13:5130, which provides: “No court in which a proceeding to invalidate or sustain bonds is brought shall invalidate the bonds unless it finds substantial defects, material errors and omissions in the incidents of such bond issue. Matters of form shall be disregarded.” The arguments brought by Mr. Jones on appeal are directed toward allegedly “substantial defects.” Mr. Jones does not challenge the constitutionality of the TIF law, La. R.S. 33:9038.1-9038.10, but rather contends that its application to the particular project under consideration herein violates certain constitutional and statutory provisions, and that the alternative plan was not approved by all participating entities.3

Tax Increment Financing Law La. R.S. 38:9038.1-9038.10

The tax increment financing act under which the District is proceeding in this case, La. R.S. 33:9038.1-9038.10, authorizes any “local governmental subdivision” or “tax recipient entity” to participate in tax increment financing of economic development projects.4 With respect to the sales tax increment financing involved in the instant case, La. R.S.

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885 So. 2d 1153, 2004 La.App. 1 Cir. 1013, 2004 La. App. LEXIS 1467, 2004 WL 1233946, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/denham-springs-economic-development-district-v-all-taxpayers-property-lactapp-2004.