Answer

If the Parish has a policy requiring payment of rental costs for use of Parish facilities it should comply with its existing policy. The Parish may provide free use of its facilities for community events, that are not political in nature, assuming that such free use satisfies a public purpose for which the parish is authorized to carry out and the Parish can show that it reasonably expects that it will receive a reciprocal benefit in an amount equal or greater to the waived rental fee. The public benefit does not have to be solely for residents of the Parish but should predominantly be for a public benefit within the jurisdiction of the Parish. If the Parish wishes to make an exception for community events, that are not political in nature, it should amend its policy to ensure consistent application. Absent a formal policy, such uncompensated use should be documented by a cooperative endeavor agreement outlining the public purpose and all of the other elements of the Cabela's Test established by the Attorney General (AG) to show that such uncompensated use would not otherwise be a prohibited donation under Article VII, §14 of the Louisiana Constitution. Those elements established by the AG are as follows: 1. The expenditure/uncompensated use must to be for a public purpose, for which the public entity is authorize to carry out; 2. The expenditure/uncompensated use must not appear gratuitous on its face; and 3. The public entity should have a reasonable expectation of receiving equal or greater value in return for the expenditure/ uncompensated use. The AG has noted that compensated use of public facilities with private funds will avoid the Constitutional and statutory restrictions against the use of public property for political activities. Therefore, the Parish would only be authorized to allow privately compensated use of its public facilities for political activities. See AG Op. No. 02-0297. The rental fee must be at the regular, published rate for renting such public facilities. See also AG Op. No. 14-0203, AG Op. No. 11-0195, and AG Op. No. 91-0216. Finally, in regards to compensated or uncompensated individual use of facilities by a member of the governing authority, the Parish and/or the member should consider seeking an ethics advisory opinion prior to any such individual use/agreement for use to ensure that such individual use would not constitute a violation of the Code of Governmental Ethics under R.S. 42:1112 or R.S. 42:1113 which generally prohibit public servants from participating in or engaging in transactions with their agency. Louisiana Legislative Auditor website: 05/18/2024 08:07:47 PM