§1635. Collection and accounting for taxes

The sheriff and ex-officio tax collector of each parish in which lands or other property of any drainage district are situated, shall receive the drainage tax book of the drainage district, and shall promptly and faithfully collect the taxes therein set out and exercise all due diligence in so doing. He shall demand and collect the taxes at the same time and in the same manner that he demands and collects state and parish taxes due on the same lands and other properties. Where any tract or part thereof has been divided and sold or transferred, the collector shall receive taxes on any part of the tract, piece, or parcel of land or other property, charged with the taxes, and give his receipt accordingly. The drainage tax book shall be the warrant and authority of the collector for making the demand and collection. The sheriff and ex-officio tax collector shall pay over and account for all taxes collected for account of any drainage or sub-drainage district, to the secretary-treasurer of the district at the same time that he pays over state and parish taxes. The collector at the time of paying over drainage taxes, collected by him, shall furnish and deliver to the secretary-treasurer of the drainage district an itemized statement of the collections, with the date of the respective payments, and the names of the persons paying the taxes.

All of the articles and provisions of the Constitution of Louisiana of 1921, or as hereafter amended, and all laws now in force or that may hereafter be enacted, providing for, regulating and governing the collection of state and parish taxes and the creation of tax liens, penalties, methods, and procedure for sales for delinquent taxes shall also apply to regulate and govern the collection of the assessments or taxes authorized to be imposed or levied under the provisions of this Part and the taxes shall be collected through the sheriff and ex-officio tax collector for the parish or parishes in which may be situated the lands of the district, at the same time and in the same manner that he collects the state and parish taxes, and the taxes shall be by him turned over to the secretary-treasurer of the drainage district. The tax collector or tax collectors shall make monthly settlements with the secretary-treasurer of the drainage district as aforesaid and receive from him a receipt for the amount of taxes paid to him. When all taxes shall have been collected for the current year the tax collector shall make a final settlement with the board of commissioners of the district in the same manner as tax collectors are required to settle with the state auditor. When a final statement is made and all the taxes assessed in the drainage district are collected and paid in or accounted for by delinquent or reduction lists as is contemplated and accepted by the state auditor in the collection of state taxes, then the board of commissioners of the drainage district shall give the tax collector or collectors a quietus in full for the taxes for that year. The sheriffs and ex-officio tax collectors shall receive for all services rendered in connection with the collecting and paying over of the taxes provided for to be collected by them one per cent on the amount collected and paid into the drainage district. Upon the failure of a tax collector to comply with the provisions of this Part, the board of commissioners of the drainage district shall forthwith proceed against the sheriff and ex-officio tax collector and the sureties on his official bond as tax collector for the collection of whatever amount may be due to the drainage district.