The St. George Fire Protection District is asking for a 2-mill tax increase for property owners inside its boundaries after losing some of its tax base to the city of Baton Rouge, which has annexed several unincorporated areas of the parish into the city limits in recent months.
The Metro Council is set to decide at its Jan. 14 meeting whether to allow voters to weigh in on the increase, from 1.25 to 3.25 mills.
For a property valued at $100,000 and assessed for $10,000, the tax currently paid to the fire district is $12.50 a year. The proposed increase would bring the tax to $32.50 a year for a property assessed at $10,000.
If the council approves sending the measure to voters, it will appear on the May 2 ballot. It would apply for the next 20 years to property owners within the district boundaries, which roughly align with the boundaries of the proposed city of St. George.
Annexations, including those of Costco, Celtic Media Centre, Mall of Louisiana, Our Lady of the Lake and the Baton Rouge General Medical Center, have damaged the district’s ability to raise funds in the future as legacy costs and capital expenditures loom, Chief Gerald Tarleton says.
Taxes of annexed properties will continue to go to the St. George district until current millages expire in 2018. Tarleton says the district is set to lose $300,000 to $400,000 in the budget that year.
Even as the district’s tax base has decreased, Tarleton says, its responsibilities have remained the same. A mutual-aid agreement with the city of Baton Rouge means that the closest unit, whether it belongs to the district or the Baton Rouge Fire Department, will respond to a call regardless whether it falls inside the city limits. In addition to a loss of revenue, retirement and health care expenses are on the rise, Tarleton says.
“We find ourselves in a situation similar to a lot of places, that revenue isn’t keeping up with expenditures,” Tarleton says.
Tarleton says the new revenue would help finance improvements to the main station at 14141 Airline Highway and pay for a new station near the intersection of Bluebonnet Boulevard and Nicholson Drive.
“We’re hoping to cover the issues of today and the issues of the future,” Tarleton says.
The Metro Council is scheduled to meet at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 14, on the third floor of City Hall, at 222 St. Louis St. —Kelly Connelly
