Baton Rouge Metro Councilman John Delgado says he plans to call for a vote on his proposed economic opportunity zone in north Baton Rouge—which the council has twice deferred—when it comes back up on the April 13 meeting agenda.
The zone would allow for developers in north Baton Rouge to ask the council for property tax abatements for 10 years on redevelopment projects within the zone’s boundaries, which is everything north of Florida Boulevard in the city limits, excluding the Downtown Development District and the Baton Rouge Metro Airport.
The item was deferred first for 30 days in January, and then for another 60 days in February, to allow parties to discuss the boundaries of the zone. But Delgado says the zone’s borders are basically the same as what he first proposed.
He says it’s a disservice to the public that the council keeps putting off a vote on the matter, adding if his fellow council members do not want to pass it they can explain that decision to their constituents.
One issue that may hamper the actual vote concerns how the proposed zone coincides with the proposed hospital service district being proposed by Together Baton Rouge.
Hospital Service District No. 2, if created, would include residents living in the 70801, 70802, 70805, 70806, 70807, 70811, 70812 and 70814 ZIP codes. Per Louisiana law, a hospital service district allows a public entity to own and operate a hospital. Hospital Service District No. 1 is in Zachary for Lane Memorial Hospital.
The designation allows for tax-exempt financing for construction and the hospital to make tax-exempt purchases. Voters in the district also can vote whether to approve a property tax of up to 5 mills.
On the flip side, Delgado’s proposal for the economic opportunity zone allows for property tax abatements for up to 10 years. Delgado says he’s not against the health service district, but he is worried about sending a mixed message to businesses: that there could be extra property taxes levied in a district where you could also get property tax abatements to help redevelop an area.
He says it de-incentivizes the reason for businesses would want to locate in north Baton Rouge. Ashley Beck, a special assistant parish attorney, says if both districts are created and the Metro Council grants a property tax abatement to a new property owner for land that lies in both districts, then the property owner would pay the millage for the hospital service district at the assessed value before construction begins.
“It would be based on pre-restoration valuations,” Beck says of the value that the millage would be based off.
For that example, Beck used the Restoration Tax Credit available from Louisiana Economic Development. Delgado says the abatement in the economic opportunity zone is very similar to the Restoration Tax Credit.
“It can get confusing and we really just need to flesh all these things out together,” Delgado says.
Metro Councilwoman Tara Wicker, who has tried to meet with all the groups working to help north Baton Rouge, once again says that all parties involved need to sit down and discuss each person or group’s role in the redevelopment of north Baton Rouge to avoid these types of conflicting moves.
—Ryan Broussard
