2theadvocate.com | News | Taxing district axed

Holden withdraws plan to exclude three cities

By GREG GARLAND
Advocate staff writer
Published: Aug 13, 2009 - Page: 1A

In a surprise move Wednesday, Mayor-President Kip Holden abandoned a proposal to create a special taxing district for an $887.5 million capital improvements bond issue that would have excluded the cities of Baker, Zachary and Central.

“We’re listening to the people saying don’t divide the parish,” Holden told the Metro Council, withdrawing a proposal that had generated controversy and put some council members at odds with his administration.

The mayor instead asked the council to set a public hearing for Sept. 2. At that time, the council would vote on whether to place the tax and bond issue on the Nov. 14 ballot parishwide — meaning all East Baton Rouge Parish residents could vote on it.

The money for the capital improvements program — which would be the city-parish’s first in half a century if approved by voters — would be generated through a combination of a half-cent sales tax and a 9.9-mill property tax increase.

The taxes would pay for a variety of capital improvements, including drainage updates, a new public safety complex, a new parish prison and traffic light synchronization and riverfront development.

By making the tax issue parishwide, administration officials say they will restore projects for Baker, Zachary and Central that had been eliminated when the special taxing district was proposed.

The largest item that had been eliminated was $45 million for drainage improvements in Central.

Mike Futrell, the mayor’s chief administrative officer, said final figures are still being worked out, but the total sought is expected to rise to about $912 million.

He said the administration was able to cut about $20 million from the $887.5 million proposal it presented last month by using federal stimulus dollars and city-parish funds to build several fire stations.

The decision to withdraw the special taxing district came before a crowd of more than 200 people packed into the council chambers.

The council had voted 8-3 at its July meeting, with one member absent, to approve the special taxing district as proposed by Holden’s administration.

But Councilman Joel Boé, one of three council members opposing it, said he planned to ask the council to reconsider that decision on Wednesday.

He said immediately prior to the meeting that he believed he had enough support on the council to get the previous decision overturned.

But Holden withdrew the proposal to create the taxing district before the council could take up the matter.

Holden said that a unanimous vote by the Baker City Council on Tuesday — indicating it wanted Baker residents to be included in the tax vote — led him to drop the special taxing district idea. He said Zachary’s mayor also advised him that his city’s residents wanted an opportunity to vote on the tax.

“I want to thank them for what they have done to move us forward as one parish,” Holden said.

Central Mayor Shelton Watts has said his city doesn’t want to be part of the taxing district for the bond program.

In a brief interview outside the council chambers, Holden said he proposed to leave the three cities out this year because he believed that was what they wanted. He said he based that on listening tours he held after the tax issue on last year’s ballot failed by a narrow margin.

“This was never designed to carve out people who did not support the tax,” Holden said. “I view it as a positive sign that Baker and Zachary say they want to be part of the parish and want to be included in the bond issue.”

He said he weighed and listened to what was being said since proposing the special taxing district and decided the best course was to abandon it.

“The council was torn,” Holden said. “We don’t want to be out there yelling and screaming at each other. I don’t want this to turn into a major battle between cities.”

Fred Dent, who heads the anti-tax group Taxbusters, said many people saw the creation of the taxing district as a ploy to assist the tax by eliminating areas where there was strong opposition last year.

“I think it demonstrates that the council has taken an awful lot of heat” that they are putting this off, Dent said.

He said people are still concerned that downtown and riverfront development projects are being included in an all-or-nothing tax package.

“We know government needs to be funded, but it needs to be funded in a responsible fashion,” Dent said. “We’re in a recession. People are losing their jobs. It’s not a good idea to raise taxes in an economic recession.”

The proposed capital improvements project include:

$376.3 million for what the administration describes as “public safety and protection of property.” Projects in the category include $135.3 million to build a new, larger parish prison in the northwest part of the parish near the landfill; $92.5 million to build a new public safety complex near the Metro Airport that will house city police and sheriff’s office headquarters; $45.7 million to modernize and synchronize 260 traffic signals; $44 million for a new juvenile services center; and $38.8 million to consolidate departments under one roof at City Hall.
$225 million for riverfront development focusing on educational and recreational facilities, free and public, including an outdoor amphitheater and an Audubon Nature Institute entertainment attraction focused on Louisiana’s environment and the lower Mississippi River.
$190 million to address drainage issues across the parish.
$141.2 million for economic development and job creation, including $72.4 million to renovate and expand the River City Convention Center and $68.8 million to expand one parking garage and build another.

The projects would be paid for through a half-cent sales tax increase, excluding food and drugs, and a 9.9 mill property tax increase.

The property tax increase would cost $8.25 a month on average based on a home valued at $172,500, according to administration officials.


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