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The incorporation of St. George could mean hundreds of layoffs in city-parish government, the closing of up to five fire stations and sharp cuts in services to the public at all levels, according to budget projections prepared for Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome.

"The nightmares of this are huge," said Chief Administrative Officer Darryl Gissel.

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The population of St. George makes up nearly 20% of the parish's population. Broome's administration has equated that population decrease into an estimated $63 million loss in sales tax revenue from the city-parish's general fund.

This is especially funny because leading into the election, they kept saying that St. G was greatly over-estimating their expecting tax revenues. The St. G organizers claimed they may collect up to $55 million and Broome laughed. Now she's admitted it's actually more than St. G stated.

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They warned it could mean the loss of nearly 500 employees in the city's police and fire departments, and eliminate specialized programs and reduce services in Baton Rouge City Court, the Planning Commission, District Attorney's Office and Mayor's Office.

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Gissel said St. George organizers haven’t provided more concrete details that the mayor has requested on their plans since the Oct. 12 election.

Murrell retorted, "It's difficult to communicate with the other side because of the lawsuit. That's the frustrating part."

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Police Chief Murphy Paul said a 20% cut in funding to his department would mean a loss of $18.9 million in revenue. That would prohibit him from having a 35-officer training academy next year. Paul said he would likely discontinue certain voluntary overtime programs and limit holiday shifts to just uniformed patrol officers.

Paul also said he'd be forced to lay off 247 of his sworn and civilian employees and eliminate travel and training opportunities for his officers and do away with the department's air support and mounted patrols, greatly impacting his department's ability to respond to service calls.

"Also, by eliminating voluntary overtime, BRPD will no longer have the ability to concentrate on special areas with specific crime trends such as armed robberies at Christmas and all downtown events, parades, walks/runs, etc.," Paul wrote.

The cuts would preclude Paul from implementing the pay raises he and the mayor have been promising to his officers.

The Baton Rouge Fire Department, in its message to the administration, said having to slash 20% from its budget, approximately $9.9 million, would make it impossible to maintain its Class 1 rating, the top classification. If it lowers, the insurance rates for the property owners would increase.

The Fire Department would likely have to reduce its force by some 200 employees, prompting the closure of five fire stations throughout the city.

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Kyle Huffstickler, the city-parish maintenance director, said his department stands to lose about $4.3 million if the revenue losses related to St. George hold true. He said he would probably have to drop and/or reduce several outsourced contracts, seasonal workers and overtime pay related to landscaping, and the maintenance of the parish's streets and drainage systems.

Baton Rouge City Court would lose about 34 positions due to the projected loss of nearly $2 million in revenue.

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District Attorney Hillar Moore said his office wouldn't be able to perform its constitutional obligations if subjected to a 20% cut in funding, highlighting that his office has already lost 19 positions through attrition since January 2018 due to the continued shortfalls in court revenues.

Permits and Inspections projected having to freeze 13 vacant positions and possibly increasing permit fees to supplement revenue loss.

The Metro Council would have to lay off their legislative aides and forgo their car allowances to meet the 20% cuts St. George could require.

TL;DR: Baton Rouge has been using ~$60 million collected from St. George each year to pay for a lot of their city services such as BRPD and BRFD. Now they're throwing a fit because St. G passed and they don't know how to fund services that only serve the city of BR and have never served the St. G area, despite using their tax dollars to fund it. The St. G organizers said they're getting nowhere because Broome filed a lawsuit against them as a private citizen so it's nearly impossible for them to negotiate anything in the transition because she has a pending lawsuit.

Meanwhile, as I typed this, another shooting occurred near Government Street.

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