Excerpts from the Louisiana State Constitution
Relating to Education and its Funding, Property Taxes, and the Homestead Exemption
As excerpted from the La Senate Web Site, Nov. 15, 1999.
http://senate.legis.state.la.us/Documents/Constitution/Default.htm
(as amended thru November, 1998)

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These are the excerpts I've provided:

• 1. Exclusion from property tax, in Orleans Parish, for Police and Fire Protection, each for up to 5 Mills.
• 2. Providing for "Ad Valorum" taxes [property tax, based on value], with exceptions.
• 3. There are new exemptions (beginning Jan 1, 2000) for the elderly earning less than 50k$.
• 4. The homestead exemption
• 5. Other property exemptions
• 6. Relative to adjustments to the ad valorum taxes by assessors. Mandates adjustments in the assessment due to changes in the homestead exemption.
• 7. How the "revenue sharing fund" forumla is changed to offset tax revenue lost because of homestead exemptions.
• 8. Funding and apportionment for public schools

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Exclusion in Orleans Parish for Police and Fire Protection, each for 5 Mills.
Found at http://senate.legis.state.la.us/Documents/Constitution/Default.htm#6-26.
At that url, look to subsection E.

ARTICLE II - LOCAL GOVERNMENT
PART II. FINANCE
Section 26. Parish Ad Valorem Tax

5. Additional Taxes for Orleans Parish. In addition to any millage authorized by Paragraph (A) of this Section, the governing authority of Orleans Parish may levy annually, for the year 1991 and thereafter, an additional ad valorem tax for fire protection not to exceed five mills on the dollar of assessed valuation and an additional ad valorem tax for police protection not to exceed five mills on the dollar of assessed valuation. The millage rates for such additional ad valorem taxes may not be increased. Notwithstanding the provisions of Article VII, Section 20(A), the homestead exemption shall not extend to such additional ad valorem taxes. Provided, however, that the additional revenues generated by these fire and police millages shall not displace, replace, or supplant funding by the city of New Orleans for fire and police protection for calendar year 1990 nor shall the level of funding for such purposes by the city for that calendar year be decreased below such level in any calendar year hereafter. In the event of either of the above, the authorization for such fire and police millages herein shall be null, void, and of no effect. This provision shall mean that no appropriation for any calendar year from such additional revenues shall be made for any purpose for which a city appropriation was made in the previous year unless the total appropriations for that calendar year from the city for such purpose exceed city appropriations for the previous year. This provision shall in no way limit city appropriations in excess of the minimum amounts herein established.

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Ad Valorum Taxes [property tax, based on value]
found at/near http://senate.legis.state.la.us/Documents/Constitution/Default.htm#7-18
providing for ad valorum taxes, with exceptions.
with new exemptions in Jan 1, 2000 [see section G]

ARTICLE VII - REVENUE AND FINANCE
PART II. PROPERTY TAXATION
Section 18. Ad Valorem Taxes

[Effective Date: Text of Paragraph A effective until January 1, 2000.]

1. Assessments. Property subject to ad valorem taxation shall be listed on the assessment rolls at its assessed valuation, which, except as provided in Paragraph (C), shall be a percentage of its fair market value. The percentage of fair market value shall be uniform throughout the state upon the same class of property.

[Effective Date: Text of Paragraph A effective on January 1, 2000.]

1. Assessments. Property subject to ad valorem taxation shall be listed on the assessment rolls at its assessed valuation, which, except as provided in Paragraphs (C) and (G), shall be a percentage of its fair market value. The percentage of fair market value shall be uniform throughout the state upon the same class of property.

2. Classification. The classifications of property subject to ad valorem taxation and the percentage of fair market value applicable to each classification for the purpose of determining assessed valuation are as follows:

Classifications Percentages

1. Land 10%

2. Improvements for residential purposes 10%

3. Electric cooperative properties, excluding land 15%

4. Public service properties, excluding land 25%

5. Other property 15%

3. Use Value. Bona fide agricultural, horticultural, marsh, and timber lands, as defined by general law, shall be assessed for tax purposes at ten percent of use value rather than fair market value. The legislature may provide by law similarly for buildings of historic architectural importance.



special assessments / reductions in assessments for the elderly and etc.
[Effective Date: Text of Paragraph G effective on January 1, 2000.]


7. Special Assessment Level.

   1. 1. The assessment of residential property receiving the homestead exemption which is owned and occupied by any person or persons sixty-five years of age or older and who meet all of the other requirements of this Section shall not be increased above the total assessment of that property for the first year that the owner qualifies for and receives the special assessment level, unless the owner fails to qualify for and receive the special assessment level in a subsequent year. Such property of an owner who has failed to qualify for the special assessment level in one year and who requalifies in a subsequent year shall be assessed at the level at which it was assessed for the most recent year the owner failed to receive the special assessment level.

      2. Any person or persons shall be prohibited from receiving the special assessment as provided in this Section if such person or persons' adjusted gross income, as reported in the federal tax return for the year prior to the application for the special assessment, exceeds fifty thousand dollars. For persons applying for the special assessment whose filing status is married filing separately, the adjusted gross income for purposes of this Section shall be determined by combining the adjusted gross income on both federal tax returns. Beginning for the tax year 2001, and for each tax year thereafter, the fifty thousand dollar limit shall be adjusted annually by the Consumer Price Index as reported by the United States Government. The income requirement to receive the special assessment level shall be met annually by the person or persons receiving the special assessment level.

      3. An eligible owner shall annually apply for the special assessment level by filing a signed application establishing that the owner qualifies for the special assessment level with the assessor of the parish or, in the parish of Orleans, the assessor of the district where the property is located.

   2. Any millage rate applied to the special assessment level shall not be subject to a limitation.

8. The special assessment level shall remain on the property as long as:

   1. That owner, or that owner's surviving spouse who is fifty-five years of age or older or who has minor children, remains eligible for and applies annually for the benefit of the special assessment level on that property.

   2. The value of the property does not increase more than twenty-five percent because of construction or reconstruction.

9. A new or subsequent owner of the property may claim a special assessment level when eligible under this Section. The new owner is not necessarily entitled to the same special assessment level on the property as when that property was owned by the previous owner.

10. 1. The special assessment level on property that is sold shall automatically expire on the last day of December in the year prior to the year that the property is sold. The property shall be immediately revalued at fair market value by the assessor and shall be assessed by the assessor on the assessment rolls in the year it was sold at the assessment level provided for in Article VII, Section 18 of the Constitution of Louisiana.

    2. This new assessment level shall remain in effect until changed as provided by this Section or this Constitution.

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The homestead exemption
found at http://senate.legis.state.la.us/Documents/Constitution/Default.htm#7-20

Other property exemptions are also provided for
found at http://senate.legis.state.la.us/Documents/Constitution/Default.htm#7-21

ARTICLE VII - REVENUE AND FINANCE
PART II. PROPERTY TAXATION
Section 20. Homestead Exemption

1. Homeowners.

   1. The bona fide homestead, consisting of a tract of land or two or more tracts of land with a residence on one tract and a field, pasture, or garden on the other tract or tracts, not exceeding one hundred sixty acres, buildings and appurtenances, whether rural or urban, owned and occupied by any person, shall be exempt from state, parish, and special ad valorem taxes to the extent of seven thousand five hundred dollars of the assessed valuation. The same homestead exemption shall also fully apply to the primary residence, including a mobile home, which serves as a bona fide home and which is owned and occupied by any person, regardless of whether the homeowner owns the land upon which the home or mobile home is sited; however, this homestead exemption shall not apply to the land upon which such primary residence is sited if the homeowner does not own the land.

   2. The homestead exemption shall extend to the surviving spouse or minor children of a deceased owner and shall apply when the homestead is occupied as such and title to it is in either husband or wife but not to more than one homestead owned by the husband or wife.

   3. This exemption shall not extend to municipal taxes. However, the exemption shall apply (a) in Orleans Parish, to state, general city, school, levee, and levee district taxes and (b) to any municipal taxes levied for school purposes.

2. Residential Lessees. Notwithstanding any contrary provision in this constitution, the legislature may provide for tax relief to residential lessees in the form of credits or rebates in order to provide equitable tax relief similar to that granted to homeowners through homestead exemptions.

ARTICLE VII - REVENUE AND FINANCE
PART II. PROPERTY TAXATION
Section 21. Other Property Exemptions

In addition to the homestead exemption provided for in Section 20 of this Article, the following property and no other shall be exempt from ad valorem taxation:

1. Public lands; other public property used for public purposes.

2. 1. 1. Property owned by a nonprofit corporation or association organized and operated exclusively for religious, dedicated places of burial, charitable, health, welfare, fraternal, or educational purposes, no part of the net earnings of which inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or member thereof and which is declared to be exempt from federal or state income tax; and

      2. Property leased to such a nonprofit corporation or association for use solely as housing for homeless persons, as defined by regulation adopted by the tax commission or its successor provided that the term of such lease shall be for at least five years, that as a condition of entering into the lease the property be in compliance with all applicable health and sanitation codes for use as housing for homeless persons, that the lease shall provide that compensation to be paid the lessor shall not exceed one dollar per year, and that such contract of lease shall recite that the property shall be used exclusively for the purpose of housing the homeless, and further provided that at such time as the property is no longer used solely as housing for homeless persons, the property shall no longer be exempt from taxation;

   2. Property of a bona fide labor organization representing its members or affiliates in collective bargaining efforts; and

   3. Property of an organization such as a lodge or club organized for charitable and fraternal purposes and practicing the same, and property of a nonprofit corporation devoted to promoting trade, travel, and commerce, and also property of a trade, business, industry or professional society or association, if that property is owned by a nonprofit corporation or association organized under the laws of this state for such purposes.

3. None of the property listed in Paragraph (B) shall be exempt if owned, operated, leased, or used for commercial purposes unrelated to the exempt purposes of the corporation or association.

. . . .

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relative to adjustments to the ad valorum taxes by assessors
mandates adjustments in the assessment due to changes in the homestead exemption
found at http://senate.legis.state.la.us/Documents/Constitution/Default.htm#7-23

ARTICLE VII - REVENUE AND FINANCE
PART II. PROPERTY TAXATION
Section 23. Adjustment of Ad Valorem Tax Millages
2. Subsequent Adjustments. Except as otherwise permitted in this Section, the total amount of ad valorem taxes collected by any taxing authority in the year in which the reappraisal and valuation provisions of Section 18, Paragraph (F) of this Article are implemented shall not be increased or decreased because of a reappraisal or valuation or increases or decreases in the homestead exemption above or below the total amount of ad valorem taxes collected by that taxing authority in the year preceding implementation of the reappraisal and valuation. To accomplish this result, the provisions of millage adjustments relative to implementation of Section 18 and Section 20 of this Article, as set forth in Paragraph (A) of this Section shall be mandatory. Thereafter, following implementation of each subsequent reappraisal and valuation required by Paragraph (F) of Section 18 of this Article, the millages as fixed in each such implementation shall remain in effect unless changed as permitted by Paragraph (C) of this Section.

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found at http://senate.legis.state.la.us/Documents/Constitution/Default.htm#7-26
how the "revenue sharing fund" forumla is changed to offset tax revenue lost because of homestead exemptions

ARTICLE VII - REVENUE AND FINANCE
PART III. REVENUE SHARING FUND
Section 26. Revenue Sharing Fund

1. Creation of Fund. The Revenue Sharing Fund is created as a special fund in the state treasury.

2. Annual Allocation. The sum of ninety million dollars is allocated annually from the state general fund to the revenue sharing fund. The legislature may appropriate additional sums to the fund.

3. Distribution Formula. The revenue sharing fund shall be distributed annually as provided by law solely on the basis of population and number of homesteads in each parish in proportion to population and the number of homesteads throughout the state. Unless otherwise provided by law, population statistics of the last federal decennial census shall be utilized for this purpose. After deductions in each parish for retirement systems and commissions as authorized by law, the remaining funds, to the extent available, shall be distributed by first priority to the tax recipient bodies within the parish, as defined by law, to offset current losses because of homestead exemptions granted in this Article. Any balance remaining in a parish distribution shall be allocated to the municipalities and tax recipient bodies within each parish as provided by law.

4. Distributing Officer. The funds distributed to each parish as provided in Paragraph (C) shall be distributed in Orleans Parish by the city treasurer of New Orleans and in all other parishes by the parish tax collector. The funds allocated to the Monroe City School Board or its successor shall be distributed to and by the city treasurer of Monroe.

5. Bonded Debt. A political subdivision, as defined by Article VI of this constitution, may incur debt by issuing negotiable bonds and may pledge for the payment of all or part of the principal and interest of such bonds the proceeds derived or to be derived from that portion of the funds received by it from the revenue sharing fund, to offset current losses caused by homestead exemptions granted by this Article. Unless otherwise provided by law, no moneys allocated within any parish from the balance remaining in its distribution may be pledged to the payment of the principal or interest of any bonds. Bonds issued under this Paragraph shall be issued and sold as provided by law, and shall require approval of the State Bond Commission or its successor prior to issuance and sale.

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funding and apportionment for public schools

ARTICLE VIII - EDUCATION
Section 13. Funding; Apportionment
found at http://senate.legis.state.la.us/Documents/Constitution/Default.htm#8-13

1. Free School Books. The legislature shall appropriate funds to supply free school books and other materials of instruction prescribed by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to the children of this state at the elementary and secondary levels.

2. Minimum Foundation Program. The State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, or its successor, shall annually develop and adopt a formula which shall be used to determine the cost of a minimum foundation program of education in all public elementary and secondary schools as well as to equitably allocate the funds to parish and city school systems. Such formula shall provide for a contribution by every city and parish school system. Prior to approval of the formula by the legislature, the legislature may return the formula adopted by the board to the board and may recommend to the board an amended formula for consideration by the board and submission to the legislature for approval. The legislature shall annually appropriate funds sufficient to fully fund the current cost to the state of such a program as determined by applying the approved formula in order to insure a minimum foundation of education in all public elementary and secondary schools. Neither the governor nor the legislature may reduce such appropriation, except that the governor may reduce such appropriation using means provided in the act containing the appropriation provided that any such reduction is consented to in writing by two-thirds of the elected members of each house of the legislature. The funds appropriated shall be equitably allocated to parish and city school systems according to the formula as adopted by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, or its successor, and approved by the legislature prior to making the appropriation. Whenever the legislature fails to approve the formula most recently adopted by the board, or its successor, the last formula adopted by the board, or its successor, and approved by the legislature shall be used for the determination of the cost of the minimum foundation program and for the allocation of funds appropriated.

3. Local Funds. Local funds for the support of elementary and secondary schools shall be derived from the following sources:

   • First: Each parish school board, Orleans Parish excepted, and each municipality or city school board actually operating, maintaining, or supporting a separate system of public schools, shall levy annually an ad valorem maintenance tax not to exceed five mills on the dollar of assessed valuation on property subject to such taxation within the parish or city, respectively.

   • Second: The Orleans Parish School Board shall levy annually a tax not to exceed thirteen mills on the dollar of the assessed valuation of property within the city of New Orleans assessed for city taxation, and shall certify the amount of the tax to the governing authority of the city. The governing authority shall have the tax entered on city tax rolls. The tax shall be collected in the manner, under the conditions, and with the interest and penalties prescribed by law for city taxes. The money thus collected shall be paid daily to the Orleans Parish School Board.

   • Third: For giving additional support to public elementary and secondary schools, any parish, school district, or subschool district, or any municipality or city school board which supports a separate city system of public schools may levy an ad valorem tax for a specific purpose, when authorized by a majority of the electors voting in the parish, municipality, district, or subdistrict in an election held for that purpose. The amount, duration, and purpose of the tax shall be in accord with any limitation imposed by the legislature.

4. Municipal School Systems. For the effects and purposes of this Section, the school system operated in Wards 9, 10, and 11 of Rapides Parish, and the municipalities of Baker in East Baton Rouge Parish, Monroe in Ouachita Parish, and Bogalusa in Washington Parish, and no others, shall be regarded and treated as parishes and shall have the authority granted parishes.

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