§1669. Property of pre-existing district transferred; funding and refunding of pre-existing indebtedness

The board of commissioners of any reorganized drainage district or on behalf of any sub-district thereof may adopt and put into effect the plan of reclamation and assess benefits and damage resulting therefrom, levy, assess and collect taxes to construct or cause to be constructed any works provided for in the plan for reclamation, and issue bonds, all in the manner hereinbefore provided in the case of new districts. Any bonds issued by a reorganized drainage district, or by any sub-district thereof, may begin to mature not later than ten years after their date, in the discretion of the board of commissioners.

Drainage and reclamation works and improvements of the pre-existing district or districts, or any sub-district thereof, and all property, machinery, rights of way, canals, levees, holding basins and other works thereof shall become the property of the reorganized district or the respective sub-district thereof. All debts, bonded or otherwise, owing by the pre-existing district or districts, or by any sub-district thereof, shall on reorganization become the obligations of the reorganized district or the sub-district thereof originally liable therefor and shall be payable out of the respective funds from whatever source derived, of the reorganized district or the sub-district thereof originally liable for the debt, and not otherwise, for which the lands were not liable prior to reorganization.

The pre-existing indebtedness, bonded or otherwise, may be funded or refunded by the issuance of bonds as hereinafter provided.

If the benefits assessed against the lands in the reorganized drainage district or sub-district shall be sufficient to pay the cost of reclamation of the district or sub-district and carry out the plan for reclamation as adopted in accordance with the provisions of this Part in the case of new drainage districts, and in addition thereto are sufficient to pay the pre-existing indebtedness by the reorganized drainage district or sub-district, bonded or otherwise, and whether or not funded or refunded into funding or refunding bonds, not including interest thereon, then the board of commissioners of the reorganized drainage district in making the levy of taxes shall in addition thereto make a tax levy which will provide sufficient funds to retire in principal and interest the pre-existing debt. In this case the proceeding for the annual levy of the installments of taxes and the collection thereof shall be the same as provided in this Part in the case of new districts.

If, however, the assessed benefits shall not be sufficient to pay the pre-existing indebtedness in addition to the cost of reclamation then the board of commissioners of the reorganized drainage district shall, in addition to all other taxes, annually levy, assess, and order the collection, until the pre-existing indebtedness is fully paid, of an acreage tax or forced contribution against each acre of land liable for the pre-existing indebtedness as shall be sufficient to pay the pre-existing indebtedness with interest plus ten per cent for emergencies, provided the forced contribution shall not exceed three dollars and fifty cents per acre per annum. The levy of the acreage tax shall be a tax lien on the land against which it is assessed. The secretary of the drainage district shall prepare each year a tax assessment book and certificate similar to that provided in R.S. 38:1634, and shall file a copy of the book and certificate with the clerk of court and recorder and a copy with the sheriff and tax collector of each parish in which any lands so assessed with and liable for the acreage tax are situated. The acreage tax shall be collected and payment thereof enforced in the same manner provided in this Part for the collection of other taxes.