re: EBR Metro Council and Annexing

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Now the same principle applies to those in an unincorporated area. If they wish to stay unincorporated, or if they want to decide to form their own city that's their right too.

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You act like they didn't get the chance.


They did have an opportunity, but failed to get enough signatures to proceed in the process set forth by the law.

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Watch the metro council meetings. This was all addressed last night before it was voted on.

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What were the main points? I'm not going to watch a council meeting.

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I mean the details as to why they want to be annexed. Seems to me that fire protection would be one of their biggest concerns as a business. Why would they want to abandon something like that?

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I heard the St. George fire chief being interviewed earlier this week about this situation. He mentioned that all the fire districts in EBR have an agreement to cover any fire that is closest to one of their stations, regardless of what district it is actually in. So in this case, St. George would still have to cover any fires in this area, but would no longer get the tax revenue.

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They did have an opportunity, but failed to get enough signatures to proceed in the process set forth by the law.

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SG did get enough signatures. Shady officials disqualified signatures after the deadline to defeat the petition.

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Maybe not.

How will the city get funding if all these big business areas get annexed?

Don't think industrialplex won't look into being annexed either.

It's all going to come down to taxes to fund the city. I don't think homeowners will incorporate if they will be taxed more than they are now.

That's why you see these businesses running to BR. SG fricked up royally by saying they could find it based on taxing them, and now that talks of incorporating have revved up again, Seigan Village is now asking to be annexed so SG can't trap them against their will.

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Parish has a general fund for most of this stuff.

They will have to raise the mileage for the school district though. I think Zachary's school mileage is double EBR's.

Edit:

EBR School Millage = 43.450
Zachary School Millage = 79.200

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St. George would still have to cover any fires in this area, but would no longer get the tax revenue.

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Looks like they discussed this last night. From The Advocate article:

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However, the fire district in the southeast portion of the parish may continue to collect property taxes in the annexed area, city-parish staff said.

During the Metro Council meeting, politicians grilled their legal staff over the tax issue raised by the fire department last week.

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City-parish attorney Ashley Beck told the Metro Council that the suburban fire department that covers the area may continue to collect their property tax millage. Furthermore, she and the parish's finance director said that while firefighters have complained they've lost revenue due to the previous annexations of areas including L'Auberge Casino and the Mall of Louisiana, they should have access to those funds. The parish attorney's office, tax assessor, and fire department need to convene to ensure money is going to the correct place, they said.

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I'm still not clear on how this works though.

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Property taxes are higher in BR than in unincorporated Industriplex, and in unincorporated parts of the parish

We pay less taxes now, and if we were incorporated into the city our taxes would go up. The reason is because of the CATS tax.

EBR millage rates

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But what happens when they incorporate into SG?


They know what will happen to them in BR. SG is a big question mark though.

And that's why you see these businesses asking to be annexed.

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But what happens when they incorporate into SG?

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There would be no change in taxes unless they vote new taxes on themselves the way BR did for CATS.

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They know what will happen to them in BR. SG is a big question mark though.

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You nailed it, and that's why many are more afraid now than they were before. What started as a school issue has grown to a much bigger one.

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And that's why you see these businesses asking to be annexed.

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These businesses have their reasons, and its not to get lower taxes. They are getting something in return.

For instance I didn't notice L'auberge getting CATS service until after they agreed to come into the city. Maybe they were, but now they are guaranteed service.

And then there's politics. That plays a role in things.

SG isn't for everyone, and I can understand why some do not want to change, but its not every business that is applying. Look at the map, They are hop scotching around because some are saying no, I like my lower taxes and the way things are now.

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SG are the ones who got caught forging signatures

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Wrong. The "forgeries" were cases where people didn't sign their name EXACTLY how it was on their voter registration (i.e. leaving off their middle initial). That's not forgery, that's removing a legitimate petition signature.

I also have several friends who had their name removed because they "were not registered in the district" when they have lived and voted in the SG area for years.

The powers that be removed 100s of signatures illegally while also keeping deceased persons on the rolls to force SG to require more signatures than they should have needed.

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They literally forged people's names who told them they didn't want to sign

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Who is they? I know they found 5-10 forged sigs, but it was purported to be from one person. Who are "they"?

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Better Together found it when they called everybody on the petition to ask them to reconsider.

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They didn't call everybody, they didn't call me. BTW, Better Together are the same people who pushed forward the big CATS tax, they are currently pushing for more police reforms, and for many liberal big govt. policies.

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No wonder SG tried to not make the petition public like its supposed to be. They were doing shady shite out of desperation bc they were running out of time

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The petition was put in the public domain when it was presented. There was no reason to do it any other way. There was plenty of time to vette it and to insure it was legit.

The proposition failed by less than 100 sigs proving that while they didn't reach their goal there were many people who supported the movement.

This despite strong opposition from the mayor, legislative leaders, council persons, civic groups, and much of the establishment.

But all of that is water under the bridge, things are getting worse, the mayor has changed, taxes went up, test scores went down, and we still see people working behind the scenes to stop SG while other big problems are not addressed in a positive way.

Does that concern you?