§ 33:2740.49 — The Downtown Economic Development District of the City of Monroe; creation,

Louisiana § 33:2740.49

• Jurisdiction: Louisiana
• Title 33: Municipalities and Parishes

Text

§2740.49. The Downtown Economic Development District of the City of Monroe; creation,
composition, and powers; preparation of plans, levy of special ad valorem taxes, and
insurance of bonds and other instruments of indebtedness
A.(1) The local governing authority for the city of Monroe, with the approval of the
mayor, is authorized to create a special taxing district within the city of Monroe. The
boundaries of the district shall be located within the city of Monroe and described as follows:
Beginning at the intersection of the centerline of the Ouachita River and the
centerline of the I-20 Bridge; thence easterly along the centerline of the I-20 to the centerline
of the Civic Center Expressway; thence in an easterly and northerly direction along the south
and east sides of the Monroe Civic Center to South 11th Street and continuing northerly
along the centerline of South 11th Street to the centerline of Manassas Street; thence
northeasterly along the centerline of Manassas Street to Desiard Street; thence northerly
along the centerline of Pendleton Street to the centerline of Washington Street; thence
westerly along the centerline of Washington Street to the centerline of North 9th Street;
thence northerly along the centerline of North 9th Street to the intersection with an alley
located between Louisville Avenue and Bres Avenue; thence westerly along the centerline
of said alley and along an extended line to the centerline of the Ouachita River; thence
southerly along the centerline of the Ouachita River, which is also the Monroe city limits
line, to the point of beginning; and that certain property located south of the centerline of I-20
and north of the Masur Museum of Art between the Ouachita River and South Grand Street.
(2) The special taxing district shall be known and designated as the "Downtown
Economic Development District for the City of Monroe", hereinafter referred to as "the
district".
B. The local governing authority of the city of Monroe, hereinafter referred to as "the
council", shall have control over and responsibility for the functions, affairs, and
administration of the district.
C. In order to provide for the orderly planning, development, acquisition,
construction, and effectuation of the services, improvements, and facilities to be furnished
by the district, to provide for the representation in the affairs of the district of those persons
and interests immediately concerned with and affected by the purposes and development of
the district, and to provide for uses of the Ouachita River for the purpose and development
of the district, there is hereby authorized to be created a board of commissioners for the
district, hereinafter referred to as "the board".
D.(1) The board shall be composed of nine members, all of whom shall be qualified
voters of the parish of Ouachita. The board membership shall be reflective of the city's
diverse population. The nine members shall be appointed as follows:
(a) Two members shall be appointed by the mayor.
(b) Two members shall be appointed by the city council.
(c) Two members shall be appointed by the city council from a list of nominees
submitted by the Monroe Chamber of Commerce to the council on or before August 1, 1999.
(d) Three members shall be appointed by the city council from a list of nominees
submitted to the council on or before August 1, 1999, by the three largest assessed property
owners within the district, and at least one appointment must be made from each of the three
largest assessed property owners. The members appointed by the city council in this
Subparagraph shall have their principal place of business or profession in, or own property
in, the district.
(e) The initial appointments to the board shall be made on or before September 1,
1999.
(2)(a) The terms of members of the board shall be three years, and upon expiration
of a term of office, the successor shall be appointed in accordance with the procedures herein
prescribed for the appointment of the original members.
(b) Any vacancy which occurs prior to the expiration of the term for which a member
of the board has been appointed shall be filled by appointment in the same manner as the
original appointment for the unexpired term.
E.(1) As soon as practical after their appointment, the board shall meet. The board
shall elect from their number a chairman, vice chairman, a secretary, a treasurer, and such
other officers as it may deem appropriate.
(2) The minute books and archives of the board shall be maintained by the board's
secretary with the help and assistance of and through the council's office. The monies, funds,
and accounts of the district in the official custody and control of the board's treasurer shall
be deposited, expended, and accounted for, records maintained, and idle funds invested
through the department of administration, under the director of administration, and checks
issued through the department as in the case of city monies under the plan of government.
An attorney appointed by the mayor shall serve as the board's regular attorney, and the
services of other offices and departments of the city shall be furnished in accordance with
Paragraph (F)(5) of this Section.
(3) The duties of the officers shall be fixed by bylaws adopted by the board. The
board shall adopt such rules and regulations as it deems necessary or advisable for
conducting its business and affairs. To the extent that funds are available, the board shall be
empowered to employ an executive director and other such assistants and employees as are
needed to assist the board in the performance of its duties. It shall hold regular meetings as
shall be provided in the bylaws and may hold special meetings at such time and places within
or without the district as may be prescribed in the bylaws.
(4) A majority of the members of the board shall constitute a quorum for the
transaction of business. The board shall keep minutes of all meetings and shall make them
available to the public in conformance with law.
(5) The members of the board shall serve without compensation; however, they shall
receive a travel allowance as reimbursement for expenses incurred while attending to the
business of the board or the district.
F.(1)(a) The board shall prepare or cause to be prepared a plan or plans specifying
the public improvements, facilities, and services proposed to be furnished, constructed, or
acquired for the district and shall conduct such public hearings, publish such notice with
respect thereto, and disseminate such information as it, in the exercise of its sound discretion,
may deem to be appropriate or advisable and in the public interest.
(b) Any plan may specify and encompass any public services, capital improvements,
and facilities which the city of Monroe is authorized to undertake, furnish, or provide under
the constitution and laws of the state of Louisiana, and such specified public services,
improvements, and facilities shall be special and in addition to all services, improvements,
and facilities which the city of Monroe is then furnishing or providing or may then or in the
future be obligated to furnish or provide within the district.
(c) Any plan shall include:
(i) An estimate of the annual and total cost of acquiring, constructing, or providing
the services, improvements, or facilities set forth therein.
(ii) The proportion of the tax to be levied on the taxable real property within the
district which is to be set aside and dedicated to paying the cost of furnishing specified
services and the proportion of such tax to be set aside and dedicated to paying the cost of
capital improvements or paying the cost of debt service on any bonds to be issued to pay the
cost of capital improvements, such proportions, in each case, to be expressed in numbers of
mills.
(iii) An estimate of the total number of mills required to be levied each year on the
taxable real property within the district in order to provide the funds required for the
implementation of the plan for furnishing the specified services and for capital
improvements, debt service, or both.
(d) The board shall also submit the plan to the city planning commission. The
planning commission shall review the plan and determine whether or not it is consistent with
the comprehensive plan for the city of Monroe. The planning commission, within thirty days
following receipt of the plan, shall submit to the council its written opinion as to whether or
not the plan or any portion or detail thereof is inconsistent with the comprehensive plan for
the city, together with its written comments and recommendations with respect thereto.
(e)(i) After receipt of the plan together with the written comments and
recommendations of the city planning commission, the council shall review and consider the
plan together with the written comments and recommendations. The council, by a majority
vote of all its members, may adopt or reject the plan as originally submitted by the board or
alter or modify the plan or any portion or detail thereof.
(ii) If the plan as originally submitted by the board is adopted by the majority vote
of the council, it shall become final and conclusive and may thereafter be implemented. If
the council alters or modifies the plan by a majority vote of its members, the plan as altered
or modified shall be resubmitted to the board for its concurrence or rejection.
(iii) The board may concur in the modified plan by a majority vote of all of its
members. If the board votes to concur in the plan as modified by the council, the plan shall
become final and conclusive and may thereafter be implemented. If the board does not
concur in the plan as modified by the council, it shall notify the council in writing of its
decision.
(iv) Thereafter and as often as the board may deem to be necessary or advisable, it
shall prepare or cause to be prepared a plan or plans and submit the same to the planning
commission in accordance with the same procedure hereinabove prescribed with respect to
the original plan. The planning commission shall submit such plan, together with their
written comments and recommendations, to the council for its adoption, modification, or
rejection in the manner and with the same effect as provided with respect to the original plan.
(2)(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of Paragraph (1) of this Subsection, the board
may prepare and submit directly to the council a plan or plans setting forth its intention to
employ professional consultants, experts, and such other advisors and personnel as it shall
deem to be necessary or convenient to assist in the preparation of a plan or plans for the
orderly and efficient development of services and improvements within the district.
(b) The plan shall specify the services proposed to be rendered by such employees,
an estimate of the aggregate of the proposed salaries of such employees, and an estimate of
the other expenses of the board required for the preparation of such plan or plans, together
with a request that a tax in an amount sufficient to cover the costs of such salaries and
expenses be levied on the real property within the district.
(c) The plan shall include a proposed budget of income and expenditures specifying
the source of funding for each of the years the tax is to run.
(3)(a) The council shall review and consider such plan within thirty days following
submission to it by the board and shall adopt or reject such plan by a majority vote of its
members.
(b) If the council adopts such plan, it shall become final and conclusive, and the tax
requested by the board upon approval by special referendum of the electorate of the city of
Monroe, as required by Paragraph (6) of this Subsection, shall be levied and collected.
(c) If the council rejects the plan, it shall notify the board of its action, and the board
may again and from time to time prepare and submit to the council a plan in accordance with
the procedures provided for in this Paragraph.
(4) If no plan is finally and conclusively adopted in accordance with the procedures
prescribed in this Subsection within four years after June 11, 1999, all power and authority
conferred hereby shall lapse, the district shall be dissolved, and all power and authority
incident thereto shall become null and void as a matter of law; however, in such event, all
obligations contractual or otherwise, incurred by the district during its existence, shall
survive and shall be fully enforceable in accordance with their terms.
(5)(a) All services to be furnished within the district pursuant to any plan finally and
conclusively adopted hereunder shall be furnished, supplied, and administered by the city
through its regularly constituted departments, agencies, boards, commissions, and
instrumentalities. All capital improvements and facilities to be acquired, constructed, or
provided within the district, whether from the proceeds of bonds or otherwise, shall likewise
be so acquired, constructed, or provided by the city through its regularly constituted
departments, agencies, boards, commissions, and instrumentalities, it being the intention
hereof to avoid the duplication of administrative and management efforts and expense in the
implementation of any plan adopted for the benefit of the district.
(b) In order to provide such services and/or provide, construct, or acquire such
capital improvements or facilities, the board may enter into intergovernmental local service
contracts with the city.
(c) The cost of any such services, capital improvements, or facilities shall be paid for
by the district from the proceeds of the special tax levied upon real property within the
district as herein provided or from the proceeds of bonds.
(6)(a) The council, in addition to all other taxes which it is now or hereafter may be
authorized to levy and collect, is hereby authorized to levy and collect a special ad valorem
tax not to exceed ten mills on the dollar of assessed valuation upon all taxable real property
situated within the boundaries of the city of Monroe. The tax shall be levied for a term not
to exceed fifty years and shall be collected in the same manner and at the same time as all
other ad valorem taxes on property subject to taxation by the city are collected. No such tax
shall be levied until a plan requesting the levy of a tax is finally and conclusively adopted in
accordance with the procedures prescribed herein.
(b) The proceeds of the tax shall be used exclusively for the purposes and benefit of
the district.
(c) The tax shall be submitted to a referendum of the electorate of the city of Monroe
and conducted in accordance with the Louisiana Election Code.
(d) The avails of the tax shall be paid over by the sheriff and ex officio tax collector
to the city administration department, day-by-day, as the same are collected for the account
of the district.
(e) It is expressly declared that the special tax hereby authorized is limited to
immovable property, and nothing contained in this Subsection shall be construed to levy or
authorize the levying of a tax upon movable property of any kind or description whatsoever,
whether corporeal or incorporeal.
(7)(a) The council, when requested by resolution adopted by a majority of the
members of the board, may fund the avails of the tax into bonds or other instruments of
indebtedness for the exclusive benefit of the district. The principal of, the premium if any,
and interest on the bonds or other instruments of indebtedness shall be payable solely from
the proceeds of the special tax authorized, levied, and collected pursuant to the provisions
of this Subsection. The bonds shall not constitute general obligations of the parish. Any
indebtedness incurred by the council for and on behalf of the district pursuant to the
provisions of this Subsection, evidenced by bonds, notes, or other evidences of indebtedness,
or otherwise, shall be excluded in determining the power of the council to incur indebtedness
and to issue its general obligation bonds. The principal amount of such bonds which may
be outstanding at any one time shall never exceed the sum of twenty million dollars and shall
not exceed the total principal amount which may be serviced in principal and interest not to
exceed seventy-five percent of the avails estimated to be available in the first and each
succeeding year that any of the bonds are to be outstanding. The proceeds derived from the
sale of such bonds shall be paid over to the appropriate officials of the council for deposit
to the account of the district. The bonds shall bear such rate or rates of interest and, except
as herein otherwise specifically provided, shall be in such form, terms, and denominations,
be redeemable at such times and places, within a period of not exceeding fifty years from the
date thereof as may be provided for in the resolution of the council providing for their
issuance.
(b) The bonds shall be signed by the mayor and the clerk of the council. However,
in the discretion of the council one of the signatures may be in facsimile. In case any officer
whose signature appears upon a bond or coupon ceases to be an officer before delivery of the
bonds or coupons to the purchaser, his signature or countersignature shall nevertheless be
valid for all purposes.
(c) The resolution of the council authorizing the issuance and sale of such bonds and
fixing the form and details thereof may contain such other provisions as the council may
deem to be necessary or advisable to enhance the marketability and acceptability thereof by
purchasers and investors, including but not limited to covenants with bondholders setting
forth:
(i) Conditions and limitations on the issuance of additional bonds constituting a lien
and charge on the avails of the special tax levied on real property within the district, pari
passu with bonds theretofore issued and outstanding; and
(ii) The creation of reserves for the payment of the principal of and interest on such
bonds.
(d) These bonds and the interest thereon shall be exempt from all taxation levied for
state, parish, municipal, or other local purposes.
(e) Savings banks, tutors of minors, curators of interdicts, trustees, and other
fiduciaries are authorized to invest the funds in their hands in said bonds.
(8)(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Subsection to the contrary, no tax
authorized herein shall be levied and no bonds shall be issued unless and until the maximum
amount of the tax in mills, the years the tax is to run and to be issued under the plan, and the
maximum amount of bonds to be issued has been approved by a majority of the electors in
the district voting thereon in an election called for that purpose in accordance with the
Louisiana Election Code.
(b) No bonds issued hereunder shall be general obligations of the state of Louisiana,
the parish of Ouachita, the city of Monroe, or the district.
(9) The district shall have the power to acquire, to lease, to insure, and to sell real
property within its boundaries in accordance with its plans.
(10) The district shall have the authority to pay the city of Monroe, the Monroe
Chamber of Commerce, the Ouachita Economic Development Corporation or other
contractor for services rendered by each respective entity or persons under a local services
contract between the district and such entity for services rendered in furtherance of this
Subsection.
G.(1) The legislature hereby finds and declares that it is necessary for the public
health, safety, and welfare of the city of Monroe that the property value deterioration in the
principal area or areas of the city of Monroe known generally as the Central Business District
be halted and that the causes of such deterioration be halted, since the Central Business
District is the center of commercial, civic, and cultural activities of the metropolitan area.
(2) It shall be the function and duty of the board to formulate the program to
implement the various development plans for downtown Monroe heretofore or hereafter
submitted, and it shall revise or amend its decisions from time to time as it sees fit. Such a
program shall implement the various plans with the responsibility of aiding and encouraging
private development of the area and promoting and coordinating public development. In
carrying out such programs, the board may consult with all departments of the city of Monroe
and such other public or private agencies as are concerned with matters affecting or affected
by the program. The board may conduct studies and based thereon may make such
recommendations as it determines are calculated to implement the intent and purposes of this
Section.
(3) The programs formulated and recommendations made as provided in Paragraph
(2) of this Subsection shall be included in the plan or plans prepared as provided in
Subsection F of this Section.
H. Tax increment financing. (1) In addition to the authority provided to the district,
the district shall have the authority provided to an economic development district by Part II
of Chapter 27 of Title 33 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, and may issue revenue
bonds payable from an irrevocable pledge and dedication of up to full amount of tax
increments available to an economic development district as provided in such Part to be
derived from any project or projects provided for in this Section, or parts thereof, in an
amount to be determined by the district, in order to finance or refinance any project or
projects, or parts thereof, which are consistent with the purposes of the district, provided that
the irrevocable pledge and dedication of tax increments available have been submitted to the
qualified electors of the district at an election to be conducted in accordance with the election
laws of the state and a majority of those voting in the election have voted in favor of the
irrevocable pledge and dedication of tax increments.
(2) For purposes of the tax increment financing authority derived from Part II of
Chapter 27 of Title 33 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, which is conferred upon
the district by this Section, and only for purposes of this Section, "local governmental
subdivision" as defined in such Part shall include the parish of Ouachita and all political
subdivisions within the parish.
(3) A general sales tax increment shall consist of that portion of the general sales tax
collected by the district in an amount determined by the board of commissioners and which
is in lieu of other such taxes levied by other taxing authorities.
(4) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, any portion of the tax of
any local governmental subdivision or other tax recipient body may only be used as a tax
increment for tax increment finance purposes with the consent of such local governmental
subdivision or other tax recipient body expressed by ordinance or resolution and upon
approval of a majority of the qualified electors of the city of Monroe voting at an election to
be conducted in accordance with the general election laws of the state of Louisiana.
I. Term. The district shall dissolve and cease to exist one year after the earlier of the
date all bonds, notes, and other evidences of indebtedness of the district, including refunding
bonds are paid in full as to both principal and interest; however, under no event shall the
district have an existence of less than three years.
J. Liberal construction. This Section, being necessary for the welfare of the city and
its residents, shall be liberally construed to effect the purposes thereof.
NOTE: See Acts 2001, No. 444, §2, repealing provisions for Monroe
Downtown Development District, and §3, providing for certain funding for
"the district". (Act No. 444 includes provisions in Section 1 for the
Downtown Economic Development District and the Southside Economic
Development District, both in Monroe).

Legislative History

Acts 1999, No. 221, §1, eff. June 11, 1999; Acts 2001, No. 444, §1, eff. June 18, 2001; Acts 2005, No. 312, §1, eff. June 29, 2005.