re: Mall of Louisiana, Baton Rouge General are in talks with city of Baton Rouge

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One thing you didn't add is that they are making a parish wide fire dept.. it would be like the sheriff dept.

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Can you provide a link to support your claim?

I've not heard one bit of information about EBR attempting to have a parish-wide fire department.

It would be unbelievably expensive to do that and still have a Category 1 (the best) insurance rating like Baton Rouge does now.

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Have you even been to BR?

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I've lived here for 35 of my 40 years. I can say that it is a dump compared to other cities. In every possible way. The only thing that keeps me here is family for both me and my wife.

The better question to ask, is have you ever lived anywhere other than BR?

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I can say that it is a dump compared to other cities. In every possible way.

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if you choose to be miserable you will be miserable. there are a lot of good things about baton rouge. i've lived here for 30 years. and there are choices you can make to put yourself in a better situation within the city of br.

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Sales tax here is 9% with 4% going to the state. How does the other 5% breakdown for parish and city of BR?

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currently EBR is run as a city and parish together. i am not sure how this would work out if stg is incorporated because the parish would no longer be run the same way... i'm curious as well.

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Why after all of this time do they want to be annexed? I wonder who and how many ppl with the Mall and Hospital are having their pockets lined by the City of Baton Rouge.

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i'm sure there is money being thrown around on both sides of the fence here, but dammit this is why i hate politics and politicians. frickers live to serve themselves. unfortunately this is how our world is run.

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Why after all of this time do they want to be annexed?

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Before the SG incorporation effort there was basically no distinction between living in the city and living outside the city limits.

City property owners pay the CATS property tax which unincorporated areas of EBR don't pay along with a small additional property tax which supports the BR fire department.

So it was a slight tax savings to NOT be in the city limits from a property tax standpoint although city property owners receive better property insurance rates because the city has a #1 classification fire rating. The parish has a #2 rating.

But anyone with a brain knows there will be significant property tax increases for SG property owners if it incorporates, not only for the city itself but also for its school system if it gets an independent school district approved via a constitutional amendment. (For example, the independent Zachary school district raised its school property taxes by about 75% after separating from EBR.)

And THAT is what is providing the incentive for large commercial property owners to NOT be included in the St George city.

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I wonder who and how many ppl with the Mall and Hospital are having their pockets lined by the City of Baton Rouge.

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Thanks!

I have a second question though. Isn't it the right of the residents of St. George to vote on whether they want to incorporate or not?

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Absolutely it is. Are you under the impression they are being prevented from being allowed to hold a referendum on incorporation?

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Well, yeah.

It seems like the leaders of BR are trying to prevent that. I have no clue though. Are they simply trying to make it as painful as possible so the residents of St. George vote no?

If the mall owners agree to Annexation, it will not be without some seriously dirty politics. No way they will voluntarily agree to raise taxes on themselves.

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Last autumn when the petition to incorporate started I posted on the Poli Board that BR leaders would not sit by and allow the sales taxes from the Mall of La and Perkins Rowe just leave without an effort to annex those areas. I was called every imaginable name possible and told I was dead wrong, that BR could not do anything about it, blah, blah, blah.

What I posted was just common sense. The Mall of La collects $38 million/year in sales taxes. (I'm not sure how much Perkins Rowe collects but probably in the millions although not as much as the MoL.)

That $38 million is 10% of the EBR general fund's annual budget. It also represents over 50% of the SG proposed annual expenditure budget ($61 million) which the SG people posted online.

I don't think it's a matter of making it "painful" to SG, it's a matter of BR not wanting to give up $38 million/year in tax revenues. Just like I predicted 6 months ago.

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I see. So basically BR is shite up the creek without that money if St. George incorporates.

I see why they are fighting so hard.

Why would the mall want to annex? Does it really matter to them?