ExxonMobil’s Baton Rouge refinery, terminal and chemical plant are exempted from the special taxing district recommended by Mayor Kip Holden’s commission on transit by a 2008 law that protects the facility—and every other “industrial area” in the state.
“Traditionally, industrial areas have had their own facilities such as EMS, fire, streets and other infrastructure, so to encompass them in a special taxing district was requiring them to pay for something they really didn’t use,” says Desiree Lemoine, a spokeswoman for the Louisiana Chemical Association, which lobbied for the 2008 law.
Holden’s commission is recommending a dedicated funding source for the Capital Area Transit System through a sales tax that’s 0.3% or less, and a property tax that’s 4 mills or less. The commission recommends putting the issue on the 2012 ballot. If approved, the measure would CATS with about $18 million more in operations funds annually, more than doubling its current $11.2 million budget.
The Metro Council is expected to take up the commission’s recommendations in the coming months. See a map of the proposed taxing district here. For a new Business Report story on transit solutions, click here.—Steve Sanoski
