What the SG committee needs to demonstrate

THE SALES TAX SITUATION

BR sales taxes-(PAID INSIDE THE BR CITY LIMITS)
5% state
2% EBR PARISH school system district
1/2% Roads/ road maintenance(Green Light Plan)
1/2% Sewer
2% City taxes
10% total sales tax

Unincorporated EBR(PAID OUTSIDE CITY LIMITS)
5% state
2% EBR schools(those in EBRSS district)
1/2% roads
1/2% sewer
2% parish taxes
10% total sales tax

SG will need to show the public that their sales taxes aren't going to change(increase), and that the 2% by businesses in SG, and the 2% they pay for automobiles will go to the city of SG instead of to the EBR Parish General Fund. They will also need to demonstrate what a new city can do better with that 2% than what folks are getting now, and that the 2% tax is enough to fund most of SG.

Second, they will need to educate folks to the fact that they will continue to pay sales tax to support EBR schools, the Green Light plan and to the sewer program. This would not change as these taxes are parish wide. That will not change, and SGeans will continue to receive those services. The school situation would NOT change unless SG gets their own ISD as Baker, Central and Zachary did.

THE PROPERTY TAX SITUATION

Each property owner(depending on homestead exemption of course) in EBR pays 52.67 mills in property taxes.
3.320 PARISH
2.120 MOSQUITO ABATEMENT DISTRICT
3.130 EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES
11.100 PARISH LIBRARY
14.463 BREC MAINTENANCE & OPERATIONS
4.360 SPECIAL LAW ENFORCEMENT
3.730 ADDITIONAL SPECIAL LAW ENFORCEMENT 2
6.900 ADDITIONAL SPECIAL LAW ENFORCEMENT 3
1.290 ASSESSOR’S SALARY & EXPENSE FUND
2.250 COUNCIL ON AGING
52.670 TOTAL PARISH TAX

If SG BECOMES A CITY THIS WILL NOT CHANGE.

The EBRSS collects the following property taxes as well as the sales tax (see above). They total 43.45 mill. Again all property owners in EBR that are served by the EBRSS pay this (depending on homestead exemption).

5.250 CONSTITUTIONAL SCHOOLS
1.040 SPECIAL - SCHOOL MAINTENANCE
6.500 ADDITIONAL AID TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS
2.780 ADDITIONAL TEACHERS
1.860 SCHOOL - EMPLOYEES SALARIES & BENEFITS
7.140 SCHOOL - EMPLOYEES SALARIES & BENEFITS 2
7.190 SCHOOL - EMPLOYEES SALARIES & BENEFITS 3
4.980 SCHOOL - REPLACING REDUCED PAYMENTS
5.990 SPECIAL - EMPLOYEES SALARIES & BENEFITS
0.720 SPECIAL - SUPPORT ADAPP
43.450 TOTAL E.B.R. SCHOOL MILLAGE

If SG becomes a city, this would NOT change. This would change only if SG became an ISD. SG would remain in the EBRSS's district.

Currently Baton Rougeans (those inside the city limits) pay a city tax and a tax for CATS that people in the unincorporated areas do not pay.
It is broken down like this:
6.030 GENERAL FUND
0.870 THREE-PLATOON POLICE SYSTEM
6.000 B.R. MUNICIPAL FIRE SALARIES & BENEFIT
12.900 TOTAL BATON ROUGE CITY TAX

10.600 BR CAPITAL AREA TRANSIT SYSTEM

That's 23.56 mills that Baton Rougeans (inside city limits pay) and people in unincorporated areas do not.

SGeans pay for fire protection that property owners inside BR do not pay. That totals 16 mills. If SG is approved as a city, that would NOT change and SGeans would continue to receive fire protection from the SGFD.

Some SGeans also live in the Ponchatrain Levee District and pay a millage for that, but not all do. The same thing applies to the Comite Diversion District and to other smaller district property tax levies. None of those would change if SG becomes a city.

Fees, permits, and license fees.

Currently folks throughout the parish pay a sewer fee. They also pay a solid waste fee. Businesses pay for occupational licenses. Fees are paid for permits. This is a big source of revenue to the City-Parish. If SG becomes a city some of that would change. Your sewer fee would NOT. Your solid waste fee would NOT. Businesses taxes and permit fees would change once SG started issuing business licenses and started a permit dept.

A couple of thoughts. SG needs to show they are responsible and they can provide services to the people as good or better than what they are receiving now. They need to tell people what won't change and what will change. People that are comfortable with their fire protection, sheriff services, garbage pick up, and sewer pick up won't notice a difference. People happy with the libraries and with BREC will continue to enjoy those services.

Services that the city of SG will provide need to be highlighted and people shown that a small, more attentive city can do better for them than a bigger bureaucracy that doesn't seem to listen. This is very important.

They also need to be honest with folks. Will their taxes be raised to support a city? People need more than promises and a one page budget. They need more information than they previously had.

Now down the road, the objective is an ISD. If you look at the tax situation you see that all those property taxes paid to the EBRSS and all those sales taxes paid to the EBRSS from inside the SG district would be available to an ISD, but that's an entirely different matter. Let me emphasize, a city of SG does not guarantee an ISD.

Would the two cents sales tax collected and the 43.45 mills property taxes being collected now for schools be enough to support a SG ISD? It wasn't enough for Zachary or Central. They voted to raise taxes for better schools. Now the situation is a little different in SG, but the fact is taxes may have to go up if there is a new ISD. That is something to look at down the road, but it's not as immediate as the city issue.