FILE: DFD
TAX AND BOND ELECTIONS AND SALES
TAX AND BOND ELECTIONS
The Orleans Parish School Board shall call elections for the public to vote on tax or bond issues. Every bond, tax, or other election at which a proposition or question is to be submitted to the voters shall be held only on one of the dates set forth by state law or upon proper application to and approval of the State Bond Commission on a date not provided by statute. The proposition placed on the ballot submitted to the voters in any bond election shall state the kinds and sources of revenues which shall be pledged to retire the bonds, should the proposition be successful.
PUBLIC NOTICE OF SCHOOL BOARD MEETING
Public notice of the date, time, and place of any meeting at which the School Board intends to propose, increase, or renew any ad valorem property tax or sales and use tax, and authorize the calling of an election for submittal of such question to the voters shall be both published in the official journal of the School Board no more than sixty (60) days nor less than twenty (20) days before such public meeting and shall be announced to the public during the course of a public meeting no more than sixty (60) days nor less than twenty (20) days before such public meeting; and notice of such meeting shall be written and hand delivered or transmitted by email to each voting member of any governing authority of a political subdivision that is required to approve such a measure previously adopted by another governing authority and to each state senator and representative in whose district all or a portion of the political subdivision is located, no more than sixty (60) days nor less than twenty (20) days before such public meeting. Email delivery shall be made to the official email address of such voting members or legislators and to any other address provided in writing to the School Board by such a voting member or legislator.
If at a meeting held in accordance with above provisions, the School Board adopts such a measure, the provisions shall not apply to a subsequent meeting if the only action taken at the subsequent meeting is one which results in a change to the previously adopted measure that reduces the rate or term of the tax in the measure and thereby reduces the total amount of tax that would be collected under the measure, or substantially reduces the cost to the School Board of any bond or debt obligation to be incurred by the School Board.
If such a meeting is postponed or cancelled, notice of any subsequent meeting to consider such proposal shall be published in the School Board’s official journal no less than ten (10) days before the subsequent meeting.
If consideration of or action upon the tax proposal is postponed at the scheduled meeting, or if the tax proposal was considered but no action was taken, then any subsequent meeting to consider the tax proposal shall be subject to the provisions of paragraph one of this section of policy.
NOTICE OF ELECTION
Whenever the School Board approves a resolution calling on the public to approve any tax or bonding revenue issue, the School Board is required to provide public notice. The notice shall be published once a week for four (4) consecutive weeks in the official journal of the School Board, or, if there is none, then in a newspaper of general circulation in the parish or, if there is no newspaper of general circulation in the parish, then in a newspaper of general circulation in an adjoining parish.
The notice to the public shall include substantially all matters required to be set forth in the resolution calling for the tax or bond election, as provided in La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §18:1284, and the information enumerated in La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §18:1284, as applicable, including, but not limited to, the estimated cost of the election.
CANVASS OF ELECTION
On the date and at the hour and place specified in the notice of election, the School Board, in public session, shall examine and canvass the returns and declare the result of the elections. The result shall be promulgated by one publication in the official journal of the School Board, and shall include a statement of the actual cost of the election.
SALE OF BONDS
After an election authorizing the issuance of bonds, the School Board may proceed to issue the bonds within the parameters approved by the electors. The School Board shall have the authority to adopt all procedures necessary for the authorization, sale, and delivery of bonds, including the right to enter into all contractual arrangements as may be necessary to effectuate the purpose for which the bonds are being issued under terms determined by the School Board.
Bonds issued may be sold at a public or private sale upon such terms and following such procedures as may be determined by the School Board. No bond issued shall be required to be registered with the secretary of state or any other office or official.
If bonds are advertised for sale via sealed bids, such advertisement shall be published at least once a week for three (3) weeks, the first publication to be made at least fifteen (15) days preceding the date fixed for the reception of bids. Advertisement shall be in the official journal of the governing authority at least fifteen (15) days before the date fixed for the reception of bids. Notice of sale shall also be published once a week for three (3) weeks preceding the date fixed for the reception of bids, either in a financial paper published in the city of New York or the city of Chicago, or in a newspaper of general circulation published in a city of the state of Louisiana having a population of not less than twenty thousand inhabitants, according to the last federal census.
Revised: December 19, 2019
Ref: Constitution of Louisiana, Art. VI, Sec. 30, Sec. 33
La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§17:1372, 17:1373, 18:1281, 18:1282, 18:1283, 18:1284, 18:1285, 18:1286, 18:1293, 39:503, 39:505, 39:521, 39:570, 39:1421, 39:1422, 39:1423, 39:1424, 39:1424.1, 39:1425, 39:1426, 39:1427, 39:1428, 39:1429, 42:19.1, 43:141
Board minutes, 12-19-19
Orleans Parish School Board