Commercial property owners seeking annexation into the Baton Rouge city limits are not expected to encounter any significant opposition when their petition goes for a vote this afternoon before the Metro Council.
The annexation requests were filed by several property owners in the United Plaza office park off Essen Lane in the wake of last fall’s vote to incorporate the city of St. George from unincorporated southeast East Baton Rouge Parish.
But Metro Council member Dwight Hudson, whose district encompasses much of the proposed city of St. George, says he has concerns about the ability of the city of Baton Rouge to provide municipal services to those properties seeking annexation.
“I just think we have to be careful about how we do this, especially given the shortage of Baton Rouge police officers,” Hudson says. “We have to make sure we can provide services to these areas.”
Chief Administrative Officer Darryl Gissel says the city will not incur any significant additional expenses by incorporating the properties and that because United Plaza already abuts Baton Rouge city limits, it will not pose a hardship to provide services to those areas.
“All the department heads have signed off on it,” Gissel says.
Only the department of transportation indicated it would incur an additional expense because of the annexations. It estimates that amount would be less than $5,000, which would be spent on pavement markings and signage.
Hudson says he will likely vote for the annexations because they do not appear to pose a threat to the long term viability of the proposed St. George. None of the properties seeking annexation generates sales taxes, so St. George will not be missing out on sales tax revenue by losing those properties to Baton Rouge.
Still, he says he dislikes the piecemeal approach to annexation that has been going on since last fall’s election, and he shares the frustration of his constituents in the St. George area, whose plans are on hold while opponents challenge the incorporation in court.
“Folks in my area are really frustrated with the situation,” Hudson says. “They feel the people have spoken and they are ready to move forward and they feel the lawsuit is just an attempt to subvert the will of the people.”
An initial hearing for that case has been scheduled for late February.
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