Louisiana Local Government Environmental Facilities v. All Taxpayers

56 So. 3d 1194, 2011 La.App. 1 Cir. 0027, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 134, 2011 WL 321739
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 2, 2011
DocketNo. 2011 CA 0027
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 56 So. 3d 1194 (Louisiana Local Government Environmental Facilities v. All Taxpayers) 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
Louisiana Local Government Environmental Facilities v. All Taxpayers, 56 So. 3d 1194, 2011 La.App. 1 Cir. 0027, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 134, 2011 WL 321739 (La. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinions

WHIPPLE, J.

|sThis matter arises from a suit brought by the Louisiana Local Government Environmental Facilities and Community De[1196]*1196velopment Authority (the LCDA), to establish the validity and legality of the issuance of Series 2010 Bonds for the benefit of the City of St. Gabriel pursuant to the Bond Validation Act, La.Rev.Stat. Ann. §§ 13:5121, et seq. The appeals from the trial court’s denial of the motion for judgment are being given expedited consideration in accordance with La.Rev.Stat. Ann. § 13:5128. For the reasons that follow, we reverse the trial court’s denial of the motion for judgment, render judgment declaring the Series 2010 Bonds valid, and remand this matter to the trial court for disposition, as may be appropriate, of the pending “Reconventional Demand and/or Third-Party Demand and/or Cross-Claim” and any other unresolved matters.

The Senes 2010 Bonds

The LCDA seeks to issue $14,500,000.00 in revenue bonds on behalf of the City of St. Gabriel (the City). The Series 2010 Bonds are to be used to fund various infrastructure projects, including sewage, wastewater, and highway improvements.

This financing endeavor began on May 20, 2010, when the City passed Resolution No.2010-0001-0520, requesting the LCDA issue revenue bonds in an amount not to exceed $14,500,000.00. An application was filed with the LCDA, and on June 10, 2010, the LCDA adopted a resolution granting preliminary approval to the issuance of the Series 2010 Bonds.

The State Bond Commission asked the LCDA and the City to adopt amending resolutions clarifying the security for the Series 2010 Bonds and |4to include certain bond covenants and language. In response, the LCDA adopted an Amending Resolution on July 8, 2010. The Amending Resolution specified that the LCDA would fund a loan to the City through proceeds obtained from the issuance of the Series 2010 Bonds and that the City would service its obligation under the loan agreement by a pledge of the “lawfully available funds” of the City, including a 1% sales and use tax imposed and levied by the City.

The City also adopted Resolution 2010-0002-0916, establishing that any debt obligation of the City related to the issuance of the Series 2010 Bonds would be repayable from and secured by the 1% sales and use tax earlier approved by the voters and collected in the City. If the taxes collected were insufficient to meet the payments, the City would utilize all sources of lawfully available funds to satisfy the obligations resulting from the Series 2010 Bonds. Without revenue generated by the 1% sales and use tax, the City will be unable to pay back the bond obligation.

The City’s 1% Sales and, Use Tax

For a complete understanding of the legal issues herein, the history of the City’s 1% sales and use tax must be explored. On April 18, 1996, the City passed a resolution requesting a special election to authorize implementation of the 1% sales and use tax. The voters approved the tax, and thereafter, on August 1, 1996, the City enacted Ordinance # 1996-10, imposing a 1% sales and use tax within the incorporated limits of the City, from and after October 1,1996.

A group of corporate taxpayers within the city, including predecessors to the seven taxpayers herein, filed suit, disputing the validity of the 1% Usales and use tax. The dispute reached this court in the matter of Ciba-Geigy Corp. v. Town of St. Gabriel ex rel. Grace, 98-0935 (La.App. 1 Cir. 4/1/99); 740 So.2d 147, writ granted, 99-1223 (La.5/28/99); 743 So.2d 676 (application for cert. dismissed by the parties on October 13, 1999) (St. Gabriel I). In St. Gabriel I, this court declared the tax “unlawful,” because the 1% sales and use tax when added to the aggregate rate of sales tax within the municipality exceeded the then-applicable 4% aggregate maximum [1197]*1197for sales and use taxes set by La.Rev.Stat. Ann. § 33:2721.6. St. Gabriel I, 740 So.2d at 150. The City successfully applied to the Louisiana Supreme Court for writs of certiorari and review; however, in 1999, the City and the corporate taxpayers entered into a settlement agreement, and as part of that agreement, the City voluntarily dismissed its action pending in the Louisiana Supreme Court. The City agreed to suspend the levy and collection of 2/3 of the 1% sales and use tax with respect to the corporate taxpayers for ten years (October 1999-October 2009). The compromise was memorialized on November 18, 1999, in Ordinance # 1999-3, which provided that the City would roll back the 1% tax to a 1/3% tax within the incorporated limits.

Approximately three months after this court’s decision in St Gabriel I, and prior to the compromise agreement, the Louisiana Legislature amended La.Rev.Stat. Ann. § 33:2721.6 to increase the maximum aggregate sales tax rate from 4% to 5%. See 1999 La. Acts No. 679 (eff.07/1/99).

On November 15, 2007, the City .passed Ordinance # 2007-0001-1115. Ordinance # 2007-0001-1115 rescinded Ordinance # 1999-3 and ratified all [¿provisions of earlier Ordinance # 1996-10 (imposing the 1% sales and use tax). In response, the Parish of Iberville Sales Tax Department (the Collector) sued the City, seeking in-junctive relief precluding collection of the full 1% sales and use tax. The Collector maintained that, because in 2006 the Parish of Iberville passed an additional 1% sales tax to be implemented in 1/3% increments over three years, the City’s 1% sales and use tax again caused the aggregate tax levy to exceed the 5% statutory aggregate maximum found in R.S. 33:2721.6. The Collector was successful at the trial court, and the City appealed.

Sitting en banc, this court expressly overruled its prior decision in St Gabriel I. Parish of Iberville Sales Tax Department v. City of St. Gabriel, 08-1780 (La. App. 1 Cir. 7/22/09); 21 So.3d 955, 961 (St. Gabriel II). In reversing the trial court judgment in favor of the Collector, the majority concluded that, “pursuant to LSA-R.S. 33:2711, incorporated municipalities are authorized to levy and collect sales and use taxes not in excess of 2 1/2% upon satisfying the procedural requirements of that statute, without reference to the limitations imposed on parishes and school boards by LSA-R.S. 33:2721.6(A)(2).”1 St. Gabriel II, 21 So.3d at 961. Thus, the City was not limited by the statutory maximum set forth in La. Rev.Stat. Ann. § 33:2721.6.

However, the litigation over the City’s 1% sales and use tax did not end with this court’s decision in St. Gabriel II. On December 11, 2009, the |7City filed suit against the Collector, seeking injunctive relief directing the Collector to collect the full 1% sales and use tax (City of St. Gabriel v. Iberville Parish Sales Tax Department, 68,512-A, Eighteenth Judicial District Court, Parish of Iberville). Six taxpayers intervened, challenging the legality of the tax in light of the City’s 1% sales and use tax causing the aggregate sales and use tax to exceed La.Rev.Stat. Ann.' § 33:2721.6(A)(2)’s aggregate maximum, now set at 5%.

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Bluebook (online)
56 So. 3d 1194, 2011 La.App. 1 Cir. 0027, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 134, 2011 WL 321739, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/louisiana-local-government-environmental-facilities-v-all-taxpayers-lactapp-2011.