95-145 La.App. 3 Cir. 3/29/95, Police Jury of Parish of Acadia v. All Taxpayers
| Decision Date | 29 March 1995 |
| Citation | 653 So.2d 94 |
| Parties | 95-145 La.App. 3 Cir |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US |
Ronald Joseph Bertrand, Rayne, Lonnie Bewley, New Orleans, for Police Jury of the Parish of Acadia.
Gerald L. Walter Jr., Baton Rouge, for Waste Management of La., Inc.
Fred G. Benton Jr., Baton Rouge, Thomas Keith Regan, Crowley, for Saw, Inc. et al.
Harold Adam Lawrence, Baton Rouge, for Browning-Ferris, Inc.
William J. Doran Jr., Baton Rouge, for Police Jury Asso. of La., Inc. (amicus).
Gernine Mary Mailhes, Lake Charles, for Calcasieu Parish Police Jury (amicus).
Before YELVERTON, SAUNDERS, WOODARD, DECUIR and PETERS, JJ.
[95-145 La.App. 3 Cir. 1] WOODARD, Judge.
[95-145 La.App. 3 Cir. 2] The issue is whether the police jury of Acadia Parish exceeded its authority by entering into a contract that would allow out-of-parish waste to be disposed of at the parish landfill.
FACTS
In 1980, the municipalities within Acadia Parish were responsible for operating their own waste disposal facilities. At approximately the same time, the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources implemented new regulations, concerning waste disposal facilities, which none of the municipally owned waste disposal facilities could meet. Therefore, Acadia Parish was faced with a critical problem: Acadia Parish had no landfill in which to dispose of its solid waste. Therefore, the police jury of Acadia Parish, together with all incorporated municipalities within the parish, except for a portion of the city of Eunice, formed a committee in early 1980 to study solutions to the waste disposal problems of Acadia Parish. This led to the two tax proposals at issue in the case sub judice.
The committee's solution was to seek legislation to form a special tax district for the purpose of solid waste collection and disposal for Acadia Parish's solid waste. Accordingly, La.R.S. 33:2738.55 was born. It was passed by the House of Representatives and Senate and signed by the governor on July 1, 1980.
La.R.S. 33:2738.55 mandated that the police jury could implement the special tax only after it was approved by a majority of the voters in Acadia Parish. Further, Section C of the statute specifically stated: "The proceeds of the tax shall be dedicated solely for the purposes approved by the electorate...." [Emphasis Added.] A special tax election was held on November 2, 1982 for the approval of a one percent sales and use tax. The actual tax proposal that the citizens of Acadia Parish approved stated that the funds from the special tax were "... to be dedicated and used for the purpose of paying the cost of constructing, acquiring, improving, maintaining and [95-145 La.App. 3 Cir. 3] operating solid waste collection and disposal facilities for the District, including the payment of the cost of closing garbage dumps now owned or operated by the Parish and various municipalities located within the District...." [Emphasis Added.] The "District" referred to all incorporated municipalities within Acadia Parish, except for that part of the city of Eunice lying outside Acadia Parish.
In 1984, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) issued a solid waste standard permit to the police jury to construct and operate a landfill on a one hundred seventeen acre tract in western Acadia Parish, near Egan, Louisiana. The Egan landfill began operation in 1985. In April 1988, another special tax election was held, seeking electoral approval of the rededication and reallocation of the revenues derived from the special sales and use tax. The tax proposal that the voters approved stated, in pertinent part, that:
"Shall the Acadia Parish Sales District ... be authorized to rededicate and re-allocate the revenues derived from the one percent (1%) sales and use tax (the 'Tax') heretofore levied and now being collected in the District pursuant to an election held in the District on November 2, 1982, as follows:
1. In each fiscal year, there shall first be paid or set aside from said revenues, a sum sufficient to pay (a) the principal and interest on all indebtedness of the District incurred for solid waste purposes, (b) all costs, but not less than $1,850,000 annually for constructing, acquiring, improving, maintaining and operating solid waste collection and disposal facilities for the Parish, including the establishment and maintenance of an equipment reserve fund into which there shall be deposited $50,000 annually, and (c) the cost of maintaining an emergency clean-up fund of at least $100,000; and
2. Thereafter, the remainder of said revenues to be used for the purpose of constructing, improving and maintaining public roads and bridges in Acadia Parish;...." [Emphasis Added.]
[95-145 La.App. 3 Cir. 4] From 1985 until 1994, the police jury operated and managed the landfill with revenues generated from the special sales and use tax, and pursuant to the DEQ permit, only solid waste from Acadia Parish was disposed of at the landfill. The police jury also contracted with Browning-Ferris, Inc. (BFI) to collect the waste within the parish to bring to the landfill.
However, in June 1994, the police jury entered into an operating agreement with Waste Management of Louisiana, Inc. (Waste Management), whereby Waste Management would operate and manage the landfill for a term of twenty-five years. This agreement is the center of dispute in the case sub judice. It permitted Waste Management to seek permit modifications to change "the service area for acceptance of waste without respect to geographic origin." Subsequently, upon request, DEQ approved a modification to the original permit to allow Waste Management to accept solid waste from all parishes within the state. Waste Management also agreed to pay the police jury royalties primarily from the fees it would collect from disposing of out-of-parish waste at the landfill. The police jury anticipated that it would receive $80-$100 million in royalties during the term of the agreement.
In anticipation of this dramatic increase in revenue, the police jury adopted resolutions authorizing the issuance of bonds and certificates of indebtedness for the construction and improvement of parish roads. In September 1994, it instituted a bond validation hearing in the Fifteenth Judicial District Court of Acadia Parish, pursuant to La.R.S. 13:5121 et seq., in which it sought to establish the legality and validity of (1) certain certificates of indebtedness of $1.2 million and (2) the landfill operating agreement with Waste Management, the source of payment for the certificates. All taxpayers, property owners and citizens of Acadia Parish, including nonresidents owning property or subject to taxation in the parish and all other persons [95-145 La.App. 3 Cir. 5] interested or affected in any way by the issuance of the bonds by the police jury were named as defendants and served in accordance with La.R.S. 13:5121, et seq., by publication in Rayne Independent, a parish-wide newspaper.
On November 10, 1994, Save Acadia's Water, Inc. (SAW), a local citizens' group, the city of Crowley, and several Acadia Parish residents filed an answer to this bond validation hearing, alleging that the landfill operating agreement was void because it exceeded the authority granted to the police jury by the citizens of Acadia Parish pursuant to the 1982 and 1988 special tax propositions. These defendants also filed various motions and exceptions challenging the summary procedure being used by the police jury to obtain a declaration of the validity of the landfill operating agreement. The trial court permitted Waste Management to intervene as a party plaintiff in this proceeding.
Subsequent to the police jury's institution of the bond validation hearing, there were also two separate lawsuits, filed in the Fifteenth Judicial District Court, regarding the validity of the landfill operating agreement.
On October 7, 1994, SAW, the city of Crowley, and Barton W. Freeland, Sr. filed suit against the police jury, its individual members in their official capacities, and Waste Management, alleging that the landfill operating agreement was void and requesting that the trial court permanently enjoin the police jury and Waste Management from carrying out the agreement. The trial court permitted BFI to intervene as a party plaintiff in this proceeding. In response to this lawsuit, the police jury and Waste Management filed (1) dilatory exceptions of vagueness and prematurity and (2) a peremptory exception of no cause of action on the grounds that the plaintiffs had failed to allege any facts to show that the police jury had exceeded its authority in allowing out-of-parish waste to be disposed of at the landfill.
[95-145 La.App. 3 Cir. 6] On October 24, 1994, SAW, and several Acadia Parish residents filed a "Petition to Contest The Issuance of Bonds," again alleging that the landfill operating agreement, which would be a source of revenue to pay the bonds, was void. The police jury and its individual members, in their official capacities, were named as defendants in this particular lawsuit. In response, the police jury filed peremptory exceptions of no cause of action, no right of action, and prescription on the grounds that the plaintiffs had failed to file this suit under the provisions set forth in La.R.S. 13:5121 et seq.
On November 14, 1994, the three lawsuits were consolidated by the trial court, pursuant to a stipulation by counsel for all parties to this litigation. Approximately one month later, a hearing was held on all pending motions and exceptions filed...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Trahan v. McManus
... ... 2315.6 against the doctor and his insurer. 3 Defendants responded with (1) an exception of no ... 94-167 (La.App. 3d Cir.3/22/95); 653 So.2d 89, cert. denied, 95-1018 ... After trial, the jury, although finding the doctor was negligent, ... ...
- Town of Sterlington v. E. Ouachita Recreation Dist. No. 1
- Credeur v. Latiolais
- Police Jury of Parish of Acadia v. All Tax Payers