It’s hard enough to attract business, industry and developers to south Louisiana given the state’s unpredictable and ever-changing tax climate, transportation infrastructure problems, troubled schools and skilled worker shortage, says Business Report Editor Stephanie Riegel.
“But that hasn’t stopped some elected officials in Baton Rouge from trying to make this parish an even less inviting place for commercial investment,” writes Riegel in her latest column.
Riegel points to the recent experience of developer David Weinstein before the Metro Council as just one example.
The developer was seeking a five-year extension of the 10-year tax abatement he was granted in 2012 for renovating the historic Tessier Building downtown at 342 Lafayette St. Riegel notes the incentive doesn’t exempt Weinstein from property taxes. Rather, it freezes for 10 years his tax rate at the level at which the building was assessed before he renovated it, $800,000, rather than at the $2.5 million it would be assessed at today.
“The renewal was supposed to be a routine thing. The city and state had agreed to the 10-year deal in 2012, and Weinstein more than lived up to his end of the bargain, returning to commerce the city’s oldest historic building in return for a $50,000 tax break,” Riegel writes. “But at the meeting, Metro Council members Chauna Banks and LaMont Cole put Weinstein through the ringer. They grilled him on why he hadn’t done more for north Baton Rouge and questioned why he should get a tax break for yet another downtown project when there isn’t more development in their north Baton Rouge districts.”
Weinstein already had the incentive—a state incentive, Riegle notes—and was merely seeking a renewal.
“Never mind that he actually has invested in north Baton Rouge, near the airport, and is also involved in the redevelopment of the former Entergy site at 1509 Government St. in blighted ‘Downtown East,’” she writes. “None of that factored into the irrational debate, and for a while it looked as though the renewal might not have the votes to pass.”
In the end, after Weinstein agreed to accompany Cole on a driving tour of north Baton Rouge neighborhoods, it did pass. But Riegel says it turned out to be “an exercise in bad political theater by a couple of actors who clearly don’t understand the fundamentals of economics or economic development.”
Read the full column. Send your comments to editors@businessreport.com.
