§ 5-303. Privatization.

(1)

Before any contract(s) relating to privatization of any Sewerage and Water Board management or administrative function, drainage, sewer, or water operation may be validly executed, a decision to enter into any such contract(s) must be first approved by a majority of the electors of the City voting on the matter at an election which shall be called by the Council as follows: After approval by the Sewerage and Water Board but before execution of any such proposed privatization contract(s), the Council shall provide by ordinance that the proposed contract shall be published at length in the official journal not less than sixty days prior to the election, and shall be submitted to the electors of the City at the first available election for members of Congress, Mayor of New Orleans, or Governor of Louisiana, if the date of such election is not less than ninety days after the effective date of such ordinance, or at a special election called for that purpose, the date of which shall be held on the first available election date not less than ninety days after the effective date of the ordinance. The foregoing is not applicable to any such proposed privatization contract(s) valued at $5,000,000.00 (year 2001 U.S. dollars) or less.

(2)

The decision to enter into any such contract(s) for privatization approved by a majority of the electors of the City voting on same shall become effective at the time and under the conditions fixed in the proposed privatization contract(s) so approved by a majority of electors. Annotation: Act No. 768 of the 2003 Regular Session of the State Legislature, which amended R.S. 33:4159.10, established procedures for privatization of public sewerage and water drainage or water disposal or treatment facilities in municipalities having a population in excess of four hundred seventy-five thousand, in accordance with the most recent federal decennial census. The provisions of this act are consistent with this provision of the charter.