Fifteen public safety agencies in East Baton Rouge Parish are now able to take advantage of a recent increase in property values by keeping their tax rates at or near their current levels, the Metro Council decided during a special meeting Friday.
The move—which is expected to generate at least $1.68 million in additional revenue—comes in a year when the assessed value of taxable properties in the parish rose by $248 million, from $4.47 billion to $4.72 billion.
Notably, parish residents will pay higher taxes for Emergency Medical Services, which opted to “roll forward” its property tax rates, or levy them at the legal maximum. Additionally, residents living within Baton Rouge city limits will pay more to help fund the fire and police departments.
During parishwide reassessment years like 2020, local taxing entities have the option to “roll back” or “roll forward” their property tax rates. When assessed values increase, agencies often opt to roll back, or reduce, their rates to cut back on residents’ annual property tax bills while still collecting the same amount of revenue at the reduced rate.
Among other developments from today’s council meeting:
• The Council on Aging, Bridge Center for Hope and the Library System all rolled back their rates.
• The Mosquito Abatement and Rodent Control District was able to roll back its rates even further than expected, which means MARC will collect fewer taxes than last year.
• Parish residents living within the boundaries of the Brownsfield, Chaneyville, Pride and Alsen fire protection districts, as well as Fire Protection District No. 1, will pay higher property taxes. Some of this funding will go toward rebuilding a Brownsfield fire station that flooded in 2016, hiring more firefighters and giving pay raises, according to today’s testimony from fire chiefs.
• Residents living within either Fire Protection District No. 1 or the Alsen, Brownfield and Pride fire protection districts will be able to vote on their November ballots whether to approve millage rates for the respective agencies going forward; those living within the Chaneyville and St. George fire protection districts will be able to vote on similar propositions on the Dec. 5 runoff ballot. Watch today’s meeting.
