Penny v. Parish of East Baton Rouge

533 So. 2d 1237, 1988 La. App. LEXIS 2378, 1988 WL 122508
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 23, 1988
DocketNo. 88 CA 1275
StatusPublished

This text of 533 So. 2d 1237 (Penny 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
Penny v. Parish of East Baton Rouge, 533 So. 2d 1237, 1988 La. App. LEXIS 2378, 1988 WL 122508 (La. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinions

CARTER, Judge.

This is an appeal from a trial court judgment granting plaintiffs motion for judgment.

FACTS

The East Baton Rouge Sewerage Commission (Commission), a joint commission and agency/instrumentality of the Parish of East Baton Rouge (Parish), the City of Baton Rouge (City), and the Greater Baton Rouge Consolidated Sewerage District (Sewerage District), is a corporate political subdivision of the State of Louisiana created by virtue of an intergovernmental agreement among the Parish, the City, and the Sewerage District and under the authority of LSA-R.S. 33:1321-1337, sometimes known as the local services law. The Commission proposes to raise $70,000,000 by issuing sewer revenue bonds under LSA-R.S. 33:1321-1337, the proceeds to be used to finance the cost of upgrading, rehabilitating, enlarging, and improving the sewerage system. The primary source of security for the bonds are sewer user fees derived from the operation of the sewerage system.

Plaintiff, Walter Penny, is a citizen and resident of the Parish as well as a taxpayer and rate payer in the Parish. Plaintiff filed a motion for judgment seeking to enjoin the Parish and the Commission from issuing and selling the $70,000,000 of sewer revenue bonds and to have declared illegal and unenforceable certain provisions of the local services agreement.

The trial court rendered judgment granting plaintiff’s motion for judgment upon finding that the resolution and intergovernmental agreement were unconstitutional. The Parish and the Commission appealed to the Louisiana Supreme Court, which transferred the case to this court for an expedited hearing.

On appeal, the Parish and the Commission assign the following specifications of error:

1. The District Court erred in finding that the Resolutions of the Parish of East Baton Rouge and of the Baton Rouge Sewerage Commission relating to the Restated Intergovernmental Agreement and the Bonds were issued by the Commission in violation of Art. 6, § 37 of the Louisiana Constitution.
2. The District Court erred in finding that the Resolutions of the Parish of East Baton Rouge and of the Baton Rouge Sewerage Commission relating to the Restated Intergovernmental Agreement and the Bonds were issued by the Commission in violation of R.S. 39:1014 and 1019.

DISCUSSION

Plaintiff challenges the validity of portions of the Intergovernmental Agreement and the sewerage revenue bond resolution, contending that some of the “funds” which will be used to secure the bond issue are not derived solely from sewer user fee revenues, contrary to the provisions of LSA-Const. art. 6, § 37 and LSA-R.S. 39:1014 and 1019. Plaintiff reasons that the Intergovernmental Agreement requires the Parish to contribute $8,000,000 annually for costs of operation, maintenance, and administration of the sewerage system in derogation of law.

The Parish and the Commission contend that the actions taken by the Parish and the Commission, which form the foundation of the sewerage revenue bond issue, are valid, constitutional means for funding certain EPA-mandated sewerage system upgrading. The Parish and the Commission reason that all payments on the bond indebtedness will be derived exclusively from [1239]*1239charges for use of the system and that, as such, there will be no charge against the general revenues of the Parish to repay the bond indebtedness. In support of this contention, the Parish and the Commission rely on Board of Commissioners of Louisiana Municipal Power Commission (LAMPCO) v. All Taxpayers, Property Owners, and Citizens, 360 So.2d 863 (La. 1978).

The Parish’s and the Commission’s reliance on Board of Commissioners of Louisiana Municipal Power Commission (LAMPCO) v. All Taxpayers, Property Owners, and Citizens, supra, is misplaced. In LAMPCO, the Louisiana Supreme Court liberally construed the language of LSA-R.S. 33:1334(A) providing that “any revenue bonds of such commission to finance the cost of the construction or acquisition or improvement of such public projects or improvements ... payable ... solely from the revenues derived from the operation of the public project constructed or acquired with the proceeds of such revenue bonds.” (emphasis added) The court in LAMPCO determined that the “revenues derived from the operation of the public project” included all LAMPCO revenues “including those to be derived from the power sales contracts between LAMPCO and the four cities” involved. The court further found that the power sales contracts and proposed bonds did not violate LSA-Const. art. 6, § 37(A). The court stated:

While there is an obligation to pay whether or not the project has been completed and project power and energy furnished, that obligation or debt is payable only from the revenues and receipts of the respective combined municipal utility systems of the four cities. See Arata v. Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District, 254 La. 579, 225 So.2d 362 (1969); McCann v. Mayor of Morgan City, 173 La. 1063,139 So. 481 (1932). It is not payable from the member cities’ entire revenues and assets, although conceivably customers of the utility may be exposed to increased charges, in the event the project fares worse than the feasibility studies suggest. Nonetheless, the general or “other income and revenues of the political subdivision” (La. Const, art. 6, § 37(A)) can in no way be charged or burdened with payment of the revenue bonds at issue. Similarly, possible loss to the cities’ general funds of net utility revenues, while perhaps affecting solvency (or indirectly requiring generation of additional general income or revenues), does not convert a charge against utility revenues to a charge against other income and revenues. The power sales contracts and the proposed bonds do not violate Article 6, § 37(A) of Louisiana Constitution of 1974. [360 So.2d at 868]

In the instant case, the Parish has agreed to contribute $8,000,000 annually, through its budgeting process, toward the “operation, maintenance, and administrative costs” of the public project.

The pertinent portions of the Intergovernmental Agreement provides as follows:

11.3 In return for the benefits of the System that will accrue to the Parish and its citizens and in payment for the services to be furnished by the improvements to be financed and provided by the Commission (whether or not such improvements are even constructed or placed into service), beginning as of October 1, 1986 and for a period of forty years thereafter, on behalf of the Commission the Parish has agreed and continues to agree to operate, maintain and administer the System, as it exists and as it may be improved, in an economical and efficient manner, in keeping with sound utility practices, including the maintenance of insurance and fidelity bonds. In that capacity, the Parish shall continue to levy rates and collect charges to be paid by the customers of the System, shall deposit such funds in the General Revenue Fund created by the Bond Resolution, and shall reimburse itself from the proceeds of such rates and charges its costs of operation, maintenance and administration in each calendar year which exceeds the sum of Eight Million Dollars ($8,000,000). The City and Parish, through their governing authority, the [1240]

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Related

Arata v. Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District
225 So. 2d 362 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1969)
Bd. of Com'rs of La. v. ALL TAXPAYERS ETC.
360 So. 2d 863 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1978)
McCann v. Mayor and Councilmen of Morgan City
139 So. 481 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1932)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
533 So. 2d 1237, 1988 La. App. LEXIS 2378, 1988 WL 122508, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/penny-v-parish-of-east-baton-rouge-lactapp-1988.