LMA official: Breakaway city would cost EBR sales taxes

East Baton Rouge Parish collects a 2% sales tax, and supporters of creating a new municipality in south EBR are counting on their share of that money to fund operations for the as-yet hypothetical city. Recent media reports have cited city-parish officials as saying that there’s no guarantee those tax dollars would be released, and that the parish attorney’s office is studying the issue. But a former EBR tax official says it’s likely not the city-parish’s decision. “It’s my understanding that, if the southeastern part of the parish would incorporate, those taxes would not go to the parish,” says George Marretta, who researches tax issues for the Louisiana Municipal Association and worked in tax collection for EBR for about 30 years. He says sewer and road taxes are levied parishwide, including in the incorporated areas. But the 2% sales tax that goes to the city-parish government doesn’t work that way, he says. “That new incorporated municipality would have to levy the [sales] taxes with a vote of the people, and then go from there,” he adds. When Central incorporated, Marretta says, voters re-imposed the sales tax on themselves, and ratified additional taxes for their new school system. Parish attorneys couldn’t be reached in time for this report. —David Jacobs