FILE: DFD
TAX AND BOND ELECTIONS AND SALES
TAX AND BOND ELECTIONS
The Bossier Parish School Board shall call elections for the public to vote on tax or bond revenue 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 the date, time, and place of any meeting at which the School Board intends to levy, increase, or renew any ad valorem property tax or sales and use tax or 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 thirty (30) 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 thirty (30) 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 thirty (30) 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 such a meeting is postponed or cancelled, notice of any subsequent meeting to consider taking action regarding property or sales taxes 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, or if no action was taken regarding the tax proposal, then notice of any subsequent meeting to consider the tax proposal shall be published no less than ten (10) days before the subsequent meeting, unless the date, time, and place of the subsequent meeting was announced to the public during the meeting.
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.
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.
SALE OF BONDS
If approved by the electorate, the School Board shall adopt a resolution providing for the issuance of school bonds within a particular bonding district. Said issuance of bonds shall prescribe the form and fix the maturities thereof, and provide for the payment of said bonds in principal and interest.
All bonds shall be advertised for sale on sealed bids, which 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.
The School Board may reject any and all bids. If the bonds are not sold pursuant to the advertisement, they may be sold by the School Board by private sale, within sixty (60) days after the date advertised for the reception of sealed bids, but no private sale shall be made at a price less than the highest bid which shall have been received. If not sold, the bonds shall be readvertised in the manner prescribed above.
Revised: October 3, 2013
Revised: December 18, 2014
Ref: Constitution of Louisiana, Art. VI, Sec. 30, Sec. 33
La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§18:1281, 18:1282, 18:1283, 18:1284, 18:1285, 18:1286, 18:1293, 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
Board minutes, 10-3-13, 12-18-14
Bossier Parish School Board