Judges: RICHARD P. IEYOUB
Filed Date: 4/9/1996
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/5/2016
Dear Mr. Landry:
You have requested the opinion of this office on the following issues:
1.A. The Iberia Parish Council is considering a co-composting program which would utilize and recycle part of the solid waste generated in the unincorporated areas of the parish, along with sewer sludge generated in those areas. Could the costs of constructing and operating such a facility be paid for with the proceeds of the sales taxes approved for solid waste collection and disposal in 1982 and 1993?
1.B. May the tax proceeds generated under these sales tax propositions be used if waste streams generated by Iberia Parish municipalities, or governmental entities of surrounding parishes are processed as part of this co-composting program?
2. May the Parish negotiate a contract with a private entity for the operation of such a co-composting facility without public bids?
3. May such an operating contract extend for a term of twenty years?
4. May the Parish contract with a private entity to construct, own and operate such a co-composting facility on a site owned by the Parish?
5. As an alternative, may the Parish construct and own its own co-composting facility on its own land and then contract with a company to operate the facility over a twenty year period?
1. A B. We have reviewed the language of the tax propositions approved by the voters in 1982 and 1993 for solid waste collection and disposal in the unincorporated areas of Iberia Parish and find that the language is broad enough to allow the proceeds of those taxes to be applied to the proposed co-composting program as a means of implementing the recycling program explicitly authorized by the 1993 proposition. Since both of these propositions dedicate tax revenues to dealing with solid waste collected in the unincorporated areas of the parish, such revenues could not be utilized to pay the entire cost of a contract which disposes of waste generated in the incorporated municipalities, or by areas outside Iberia Parish. However, it is likely that a contract could be structured in such a manner which would deal with solid waste from many sources, with each source being charged an appropriate unit cost for each ton (or other measure) of waste generated from that entity. R.S.
2. R.S.
3. As set forth in R.S.
4. The parish may contract with a private entity to construct a co-composting facility on a parish-owned site, but must do so in compliance with the Public Bid Law, R.S.
5. As indicated in response to 3 and 4 above, the parish may construct and own its own co-composting facility on its own land, having complied with the Public Bid Law, and then contract with a company to operate that facility for a term up to 25 years, without submitting such a contract to a public bid process.
I trust that this answers your inquiries. Please let me know if we may be of further assistance to you in this matter.
Very truly yours,
RICHARD P. IEYOUB ATTORNEY GENERAL
By: ______________________________________ GLENN R. DUCOTE Assistant Attorney General
RPI/GRD/cla
Date Received:
Date Released:
Glenn R. Ducote Assistant Attorney General