re: Stolen from OT. St George submits petition.

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If Baton Rouge benefits, then who suffers?

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Nobody has to suffer unless there are two cities competing for the same revenues and resources instead of a consolidated city/parish government.

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Posted by doubleb
The BRPD doesn't patrol in my neighborhood nor does BRFD cover my home, and I don't expect them to. I don't pay property taxes to either entity as BR city dwellers do. That's how that should work.

We all pay taxes to support the sheriff who patrols the entire parish

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Again, the whole parish pays for and receives police protection. EBRSO generally does not patrol or respond to calls within the city of BR. The city of BR pays the same dedicated taxes to EBRSO that we do in unincorporated areas.

Again, it's semantics. You could consolidate the police forces and the city will still use more police presence, for obvious reasons.

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All I want to know are we subsidizing city services ? No one had said we are not.

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Metro Councilman Joel Boé, whose district lies inside what would become St. George, says he doesn't think his constituents have been slighted by the city-parish. He says DPW is responsive, and says if anything, his area got more than its fair share of Green Light Plan spending.

Holden says $322 million in Green Light Plan funds collected parishwide were spent on the area's infrastructure.

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LINK

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Again, the whole parish pays for and receives police protection. EBRSO generally does not patrol or respond to calls within the city of BR. The city of BR pays the same dedicated taxes to EBRSO that we do in unincorporated areas.

Again, it's semantics. You could consolidate the police forces and the city will still use more police presence, for obvious reasons.

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The whole parish does not receive BRPD protection, but does receive more sheriff's protection. Consequently, we should pay more for this service. But the sheriff does other things besides patrol and everyone in the parish should pay equally for that.

I do not think we've been mistreated by DPW or in the Green Light Plan.

The question I have is are we paying for city services that we do not receive.

I receive services from DPW and I pay taxes and fees for those services.

I pay sales taxes to the Green Light plan which has been very fair to unincorporated areas and city areas.

If the numbers are wrong then fine, if the city pays 40-45% and the unincorporated pays 55-60% I'm finevwith that.

It can't be 50/50 and work.

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If the numbers are wrong then fine, if the city pays 40-45% and the unincorporated pays 55-60% I'm finevwith that.

It can't be 50/50 and work.

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Do more people commute from the city out to the parish for work or is it the other way around?

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What revenue do either Baton Rouge or East Baton Rouge Parish derive from labor? Do the employers pay income tax? They do pay for occupational licenses based on their revenues. If the employees commuting into Baton Rouge help produce higher revenues then they are contributing to the city's revenue.

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Should the city set up toll booths for those commuters coming into the city from the parish to work every day?

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Absolutely, and those toll booths should collect from non-residents of the parish too. I think the city and parish should impose an income tax while they are at it. And why not a tax on accumulated wealth too. Heaven knows the people on the Metro Council would spend the money more wisely than the people who earned it.

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Do you see how silly and parochial your entire argument is?

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About as silly as yours. At least mine has an underlying rationale that makes sense. If you take something away from people they are going to be worse off. And in this case those people are the parish residents who live outside the Baton ?Rouge city limits.

I accept the fact the city is an asset and we should offset some of the services for thst reason.

I never thought 50/50 was workable but I thought 10/90 to be unfair.

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I am big on a unified parish police force, it would be far more efficient. The system we have now isn't good.

You?

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I'm torn on it. I think it would be more efficient and there obviously would be less confusion and bullshite about who's funding what and paying their "fair share."

I don't know. Sheriffs are political beasts and aren't subject to nepotism and hiring rules that most city police forces are. Their cops are basically political appointees, they can promote whomever they want even if they aren't qualified, and don't have to have any real standards. They get paid by the state to imprison people which isn't really in our best interests.

It's no coincidence that the same people that want break away districts also want to consolidate the police forces. It's all about which move gets them the most power.

It's honestly a tough call because I think the efficiencies and de-duplication of services could be beneficial to the area, but on the other hand, I also value freedom, ethics, and having standards.