Police juries may create recreation districts, and those districts get corporate powers and tax exemption, but they cannot extend into a municipality without that municipality’s consent.
§4562. Recreation districts, creation by parishes; corporate status, powers, domicile A. The police jury of any parish in the state is authorized and empowered upon its own initiative to form and create recreation district or districts by wards or otherwise and in so doing to divide a parish into one or more recreation districts, or by agreement with the police jury of any other parish to combine two or more parishes or parts thereof into a single recreation district with such name or names as said police jury or juries may designate, provided that no recreation district shall extend into the corporate limits of a municipality without the consent of its governing body. B. Any recreation district created under the provisions of Subsection A of this Section shall constitute a body corporate and shall have the power and right to incur debts and enter into contracts and to do and perform any and all acts in its corporate name which are necessary or proper for carrying out the objects and purposes for which the recreation district is created, including, but not limited to, the expropriation of property and the acquisition of equipment, buildings, and physical facilities. It shall have the power to sue and be sued; to buy and sell; to acquire by purchase, gift, expropriation, or otherwise every type and specie of property and servitudes, rights of way, and flowage rights necessary to its purpose; and to lease, build, operate, and maintain any works or machinery designed to accomplish the purposes of the district. It shall specifically have the right to sell or assign any interests in minerals or royalties it may own, not to exceed fifty percent of its interest in such minerals or royalties, pursuant to Title 31 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, however, any sale or assignment shall be done in accordance with the public bid law, R.S. 38:2211 et seq. It shall have complete control over any supply of fresh water made available by its facilities which shall be administered for the benefit of the persons residing or owning property within the district, and if it should be for the benefit of the district, it shall have the authority to sell such water for irrigation, municipal, and industrial uses both within and outside the district. The district shall constitute an agency of the state of Louisiana designated to carry out an essential governmental function of the state and all of the property of the district shall be exempt from taxation. It shall have the authority to cooperate and contract with the government of the United States or any department or agency thereof and to accept gifts, grants, and donations of property and money therefrom. It shall have the authority to cooperate with the state of Louisiana or any political subdivision, department, agency, or corporation of the state for the construction, operation, and maintenance of facilities designed to accomplish the purpose for which the district is created on any basis including the matching of funds and by participating in projects authorized by any federal or state law as it shall see fit. C. The police jury or juries creating a recreation district shall designate the domicile of such corporation providing that in fixing the domicile the same shall be located at some place within the district. Acts 1954, No. 542, §§1, 6, 7. Amended by Acts 1958, No. 473, §1; Acts 1981, No. 757, §1.