re: Budget comparisons between St George & other Louisiana cities

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Currently property owners inside the city limits pay 13.12 mills in property taxes designated as "Baton Rouge City Tax" that property owners outside the city limits don't pay

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Below is the breakdown of the 13.12

City of Baton Rouge (General Fund) 7.120
City of B. R. Fire Pay Enhancement Fund 6.000

Here is the link to the 2014 EBR City-Parish Budget - you can find the breakdown of property taxes on page 45.

LINK

Take a step back and help my ignorance...what/where is St George? Not sure how I havn't heard of a city in LA with over 100K population

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If residents were told the truth about the city's finances

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I think everyone need to look at where the money is going now in the East Baton Rouge / City of Baton Rouge budget now. The local services agreement started in 1991 allows the city-parish government to move money between the two. The big issue I have with it is that money is only being moved from the parish revenues to cover city only expenses. In 2014 $52 million in revenue generated in the parish (outside city of Baton Rouge) was moved to city side of the budget to cover expenses. In 2013 it was $45 million. In addition, the following agencies are funded entirely by revenue generated by the parish: District Court, Clerk of Court, Family Court, Juvenile Court, District Attorney, Registrar of Voters, & Coroner. It is shown on p.331-333 in the 2014 City-Parish Budget at the following link LINK

This is why the Mayor is against the City of St. George - they will lose a revenue stream. The parish residents see only a small return on the sales tax revenue generated in the parish - the city takes a huge portion of it.

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His explanation why a SG school district would be treated differently from Zachary, Baker and Central exceeded my cognitive abilities to comprehend. It had something to do with the city running the school system and not a school board overseeing it. He said if the city runs the school system rather than a school board then technically SG would not be creating a new school district. It was very confusing.

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I don't know how it would be treated differently. It's my understanding that the "simple majority" reference is to expand the Southeast district that already passed to also include areas within St. George.

This senate bill passed last year and allows for the creation of the southeast school district. It is one of two bills involving an ISD in East Baton Rouge. The second senate bill sets up the funding mechanism for the schools. The second bill, SB73, is what Senator White stalled because he could not get quite enough votes to pass. It's currently tabled.

Senate bill 199 was signed by Governor Jindal and only required a simple majority to pass. It passed the House by a vote of 57-37 and the Senate 25-12. Remember, this only includes the "southeast" district that is east of I-10 and south of I-12. It will only take a simple majority to expand this to include the all parts of the proposed St. George city that isn't already covered, which is what Senator White has been saying in these St. George meetings.

I have heard people saying that it will only take a simple majority to fund this new district but I don't believe that is accurate. If it were, there is support in the legislature for that right now....no need to incorporate.

From the St. George facebook page:

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The proposed St. George Independent School District Map:
Contain all schools originally proposed in Senate Bill 199 (the wedge) as well as all of the city of St. George. State law provides for a city school district to be larger than it's city boundaries.

We propose to build six (6) additional schools on west side of I10 where there are currently NO public schools:
One High School, Two Middle Schools and Three Elementary Schools.

Creation of the St. George Independent School District will require an amendment to Act 295 to amend it's current boundaries. This will only require a majority vote in the Legislature, not a 2/3 majority.

Based on our research, we see no reason to raise taxes to build additional schools or to run this school district. This area currently pays 43.45 mils and a dedicated 2 cent sales tax.

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This is interesting....since it means that the proposed St. George school district actually does include parts the city of Baton Rouge that were once in the proposed "wedge" district that passed without a funding mechanism. I was not aware that any part of the city of Baton Rouge would be included in the new school district. I wonder if this means they could bring other parts of the city of Baton Rouge within their new school district years down the line by amending SB 199

Just saw that Councilman Delgado is making an even bigger fool of himself than he already has by attempting (but failing) to have St. George Dept. Fire Commissioners replaced by BRFD union members in a failed effort to take over the SG Fire Dept and thwart SG incorporation. That type of childishness is just the motivation that I needed to make me donate money to the SG incorporation effort and start volunteering. This is not about budgets but about a group of people who want to deprive the SG residents of the right to govern themselves and I for one have had enough.

I live in Delgado's district. I did not vote for him.

I warned people on this board about Delgado last year when he ran against Smokie Bourgeois. I took a lot of heat for it.

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So if you live south of I-12 but live in the city of Baton Rouge, you may one day be able to send your kids to a new St. George school district (and pay St. George school taxes instead of EBR school taxes if Senate Bill 73 passes). The area within Baton Rouge that the St. George school district will include is roughly the area east of South Sherwood, south of I-12, north of Coursey, and west of O'Neal lane

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Yeah..................no. How can politicians cherry pick schools to break out of an existing school district? Makes no sense to me. It probably won't to the US Justice Dept either.

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Yeah..................no. How can politicians cherry pick schools to break out of an existing school district?

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They do it the usual way....by passing a law.

SB 199 passed the legislature and was signed by Jindal.

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Makes no sense to me. It probably won't to the US Justice Dept either.

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They don't usually screw with the creation of new municipal districts....but I have no idea how they'd approach this particular case where clearly students within the city of Baton Rouge would be zoned for a special school district that extends beyond the municipal boundaries of the future city of St. George.

I can see why the parents in that area of Baton Rouge would want their kids to go to the better district. I can also see how East Baton Rouge parish school board would be upset. This robs them of ADA money as it puts more students into St. George schools.