If you own a $200,000 home in Baton Rouge you’d pay an extra $160 in property taxes each year under the proposed 8-mill tax to raise police salaries, according to data from the city-parish Finance Department.
The tax increase, if approved, would only be levied on homes inside the city limits and homeowners would not be able to apply the homestead exemption to it.
For those with a property worth $50,000, the tax increase would amount to an extra $40 per year; while those with a $250,000 home would pay $200 more (See below for a chart with further details).
The only other property tax dedicated to the Baton Rouge Police Department is 0.87-mill “three-platoon tax” that has been levied for decades. The vast majority of BRPD’s $90 million annual budget comes from the city-parish general fund.
The proposed tax, introduced by Metro Councilman Matt Watson, would be used solely for city police pay raises. He says the measure is designed to bump up starting salaries to make it easier for BRPD to hire and retain new officers, and says other officers who have been with the force longer would also see bumps in pay. It is not yet clear how much the pay raises would amount to.
The measure already has the support at of least two council members—Watson and Trae Welch—who voted against placing Mayor Sharon Weston Broome’s proposed property tax plan for transportation improvements on the ballot. Councilman Buddy Amoroso, who also voted against Broome’s BTR plan, says he will support it as long as it’s “fiscally sound.”
“It’s hard to go against public safety,” Amoroso says. “Right now, I think we’re getting close to a crisis with not being able to attract good policemen.”
Amoroso also says he wants to see what impact the raises would have on the retirement system before he supports it.
Last week, Broome raised several concerns about the proposal, but said she would wait until she saw a full plan before supporting or opposing it.
There are several major differences between Broome’s transportation plan and Watson’s police pay raise plan. The new proposal is an 8-mill tax, whereas Broome’s was 5 mills. Watson’s only applies to people living in the city limits, while Broome’s applied to the whole parish.
Mayor Pro Tem Scott Wilson says he’s leaning against an additional property tax—though he stresses he supports the police department getting more money for pay raises—because of his concerns about residents being overtaxed. He also voted against Broome’s tax.
“Just throwing a tax at it I don’t think is the answer. I think we have to get our own house in order,” he says, citing the millages dedicated to the East Baton Rouge Council on Aging and other city-parish entities. “All these agencies need to look at who the fat cats are.”
Most of Wilson’s district is not in the city limits and would not be subject to the tax.
—Sam Karlin
