§3748. Municipalities in St. Mary Parish; property taxes and charges for drainage works

A. The governing authority of any municipality within the parish of St. Mary shall have and is hereby vested with full power and authority to:

(1) Levy special taxes on all the property within the municipality for the purpose of maintaining, operating, constructing, and improving the drainage works in the municipality in the manner provided by the constitution and laws of this state after having been authorized to do so at a special election held in accordance with the provisions of the constitution and laws of this state.

(2) Levy and impose a charge for the purpose of maintaining, operating, constructing, and improving drainage works within the municipality, such charge to be imposed on a per acre basis, provided that prior to levying such charge, the governing authority shall give notice of intention by publication of a notice once a week for three consecutive weeks in its official journal, and shall thereafter hold a public hearing on the question of whether the governing authority should levy an acreage charge for the duration and in the amount set forth in the notice of intention. In the event a petition is received in opposition to the levy bearing the signatures of fifty or more adult residents of the municipality, such levy shall not be authorized without the consent of a majority of the electorate voting at an election held in such municipality in accordance with the election laws of this state. Any such charge authorized shall be levied by the governing authority of the municipality against each acre of land within the boundaries of the municipality, and the assessor of St. Mary Parish shall assess each parcel of property within the municipality and shall prepare an assessment roll in triplicate and shall provide a copy to the clerk of court and a copy to the tax collector of the parish and one copy to the governing authority of the municipality. The acreage of each parcel may be determined by land surveying or may be determined by controlled aerial photography and computer digitalization, performed in accordance with the United States National Map Accuracy Standards for photography at a scale of one inch to one hundred feet. The charge shall be due and payable annually at the same time as property taxes.

B. All laws providing for, regulating, and governing the collection of state and local taxes and the creation of tax liens, penalties, methods, and procedures for sales for delinquent taxes shall also apply to regulate and govern the collection of the charges authorized to be imposed or levied under the provisions of this Section and the charges shall be collected through the tax collector of the municipality in which may be situated the lands of the municipality at the same time and in the same manner that he collects the state and local taxes.

Acts 1993, No. 793, §1, eff. June 22, 1993.