People in St. George Pay for a City Now, Just Not Their City

Mayor-President Kip Holden condemned supporters of the proposed City of St. George before the Baton Rouge Rotary Club Wednesday.  Even though more than 10,000 people have signed the St. George petitions, they are just “a small group who wants to divide us,” he said.
Then he poured out a litany of carefully crafted cliches designed to end the discussion about incorporating the City of St. George:
•    It will impose a burden on future generations.
•    Starting a city is complicated.
•    It will bankrupt our future.
•    It will cripple one of the strongest economies in the nation.
•    They want to divide us.
•    It will take a major financial toll.
•    It’s just a small group doing this.
•    They want to capture our taxes.
•    They’d have to elect officials.
•    They’d have to provide police, fire, garbage, and public works.
•    It would duplicate government services.
•    Duplicating services means duplicating costs.
•    Starting a city is complicated.
•    Who will pay for the litigation?
•    It will mean higher taxes!
•    It will mean loss of funding for the D.A. and other officials.
•    It will adversely affect public safety.
•    It will hurt our bond rating.
•    We’re being held hostage in a disagreement over schools.
•    We should work together to fix what is broken.
•    It will turn back the clock on racial harmony.
•    It will cripple our area.
•    It’s just a small group doing it!
Some Background.  Kip Holden and I served together in the Louisiana House for 12 years and sat about five feet from each other in the House Chamber.  We had countless conversations, all friendly.  I feel I know him quite well, and I like him, although we disagree on politics.
Having said that and with no disrespect intended, I have to say that every single thing he told the Rotary Club about the proposed City of St. George is false, except for one thing: If the new city is created, there will be an election for Mayor, Police Chief, and City Council. That’s true!
The things he said were simply talking points he wrote down before his speech, but they are not true and he cannot back them up.
A Basic Principle of Our Law.  The basic principle here is that people living in unincorporated areas of Louisiana have the right under Louisiana law to organize a new city (La.R.S. 33:1 et seq).  Furthermore, the Louisiana Constitution of 1974 has a specific provision (Art. 6 §2), which repealed a part of the East Baton Rouge Plan of Government, which had prohibited the formation of new cities in this parish.
So the law is clear — people have a right to file an incorporation petition with 25 percent of the registered voters and then have a vote on whether to incorporate.  If the ayes have it, the incorporation can be challenged but the likelihood of such a challenge being upheld is extremely small.
Virtually all of the issues which are likely to come up in any legal challenge to the incorporation of St. George have already been decided by the courts.  One of the most important cases is Devall v. Starns, which challenged the incorporation of the City of Central.
For example, the notion that voters outside the proposed city should get to vote on the incorporation of a new city was dealt with in Devall and disposed of as without merit.
A Tale of Two Cities.  Before responding to the Mayor-President’s ill-advised and over-the-top remarks, I would like to tell you a tale of two cities, two pretty nice cities in our area that were founded on two very different models.  They are:

City of Hammond, Louisiana —         Founded: 1818
Population: 20,000
Annual Budget: $30 million
Deficits: Struggles to avoid a deficit of $500,000 a year
Number of Employees: 325
A Traditional City

City of Central, Louisiana —
Founded: 2005
Population: 27,000
Annual Budget: $6.3 million
Surplus: $1 million a year
Cash Reserves: Over $10 million
Number of Employes: 3
A Fully Privatized City
City services are provided by IBTS, a non-profit organization established by the National Governor’s Association.  IBTS has 26 of its employees assigned to the City of Central.

Hammond was developed on a 19th Century Model, while Central was developed on a 21st Century Model
Central: A Conservative, Cost-Conscious City Government.
City Employees.  The City of Central has only three city employes.  So you can see that there is no bureaucracy, and the public is not accruing vast unfunded liabilities for hundreds of city employes who may want to retire in the future.  This obligation simply doesn’t exist in Central.
Law Enforcement. The people of Central pay a law enforcement tax to fund the Sheriff’s Office.  Before Central was incorporated in 2005, the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office was the primary law enforcement agency.  Eight years after incorporation, the Sheriff is still the primary law enforcement agency in the new City of Central.  There was no reason for Central to create its own full-time police department.  That would have been duplicatory.  But Central does have an all-volunteer Central Police Force which assists the Sheriff’s Office.  It is similar to Reserve Deputies. Every volunteer in the Central Police Department is fully certified.
Fire Protection.  Before incorporation, the people of Central funded the Central Fire Protection District through property taxes.  The district was providing excellent service. So there was no reason to create a new duplicatory fire department in the City of Central.
Sewer Services.  Central was part of the parish sewer system before incorporation, and it still is.  The people pay the same sewer user fees as residents of Baton Rouge.
Garbage Collection.  Garbage collection is parishwide.  So the people of Central receive the same garbage service that they did before incorporation, and they pay for it with the same monthly user fee as in Baton Rouge.
Parks and Recreation.  Parks and recreation in Central are provided by BREC which levies the same property tax in Central that it does in Baton Rouge.  So the incorporation of Central made no change in parks.
Not Complex, Not Duplicatory. Not expensive.  As a result, you can see that the creation of City of Central has really been quite simple — not complex and not duplicatory — with respect to police protection, fire protection, sewer, garbage collection, and parks.  All those services are the same now as they were before incorporation.  The only difference is that Central has added an all-volunteer Central Police Force to supplement the Sheriff’s Office.
What Did Change in Central?  There are three major areas — 1) public works, 2) planning and zoning, and 3) plan review, permits, inspections, and Code enforcement.  These are very important areas of local government, and all require considerable expertise.  However, these services can readily be contracted out to private providers.
The City of Central contracts with IBTS, a non-profit organization established by the National Governor’s Association, to provide these city services, plus a variety of other things, such as personnel to answer citizens complaints and problems.
IBTS provides the Public Works Director for the City of Central, engineering services, personnel to staff the planning and zoning commission, clerical staff, and building officials to do inspections.
Unlike inefficient local governments, which may send out four or five inspectors to one job site, IBTS sends a Certified Building Inspector, one person who performs all inspections, including building, plumbing, mechanical, and electrical.
In addition to the 26 employees that IBTS provides to staff the Central Municipal Services Center, IBTS contracts with general contractors to repair potholes and provide street overlay.  It uses sub-contractors who work at pre-negotiated prices.  Some services such as lot cutting are done at a fixed rate per linear foot, rather than by the hour.
Taxes. Municipal taxes in Central have NOT gone up with incorporation.  In fact, they are LESS than municipal taxes in Baton Rouge.  For one thing, the Central City Council has staunchly refused to levy a municipal property tax, which it could do without a vote of the people.  However, since the city is run so efficiently and is compiling large surpluses, there is no thought of a tax increase by the City of Central.  Instead, the city fathers have been considering where to use some of its accumulated surplus for capital improvements without the necessity of acquiring debt.
Experts in privatization estimated that the City of St. George could run the entire city with fewer than 10 employees, while utilizing a private contractor such as IBTS to provide city services.  They estimate the contractor would need to utilize roughly 50 staff members and certainly no more than 70 to provide the services that citizens will expect.
Funding of Constitutional Offices and Parishwide Offices.  The leaders of the St. George movement have pledged to continue to fund the parish constitutional offices, such as the 19th Judicial District and the District Attorney, as well as parishwide offices, such as the Parish Prison, with funds that flow into the St. George Fund.  So the Mayor’s claim that these
offices will be defunded is bogus.
Charges That St. George Is Breaking Away, That It Is Divisive, or That It Is Racist.  These allegations are intended to inflame the Mayor-President’s political base and have nothing to do with reality.
Obviously, the City of St. George is not breaking away from Baton Rouge.  It’s not part of Baton Rouge.  We’re talking about the unincorporated areas that Baton Rouge never wanted to annex.  Suddenly, the fact that the people there would want to have their own city is “dividing us.”  How ridiculous!  St. George is going to be right next door to Baton Rouge.  It will still be in East Baton Rouge Parish!  Everyone will flow from one city to the other freely and seamlessly.  There won’t a 10-foot-high wall or checkpoints.
Truly, having a great new city right next to Baton Rouge can only make Baton Rouge better.  Yes, IBM may put an office in Baton Rouge, but where are the employees going to live?  You can bet that, unless something changes, they will be headed to Livingston and Ascension!  But St. George will provide people with a great place to live right next door in the southern part of THIS parish — a city with good schools and safe neighborhoods.
The real racism in this debate has been the knee-jerk reaction against St. George.  Somehow if an area is majority white, conservative, and Republican, it shouldn’t be allowed to incorporate and have a city.  That is a racist position to take.
It is also racist to assume that blacks and whites are looking for something totally different in a city.  Will blacks, Latins, and Asians want to live in St. George?  Of course they will!
A few years ago, a black political leader made a statement on WAFB-TV about what a racist community Central is.  At the Central City News, we believed that was false but we wanted to find out what the black people living in Central thought about the Central community.  Do they see it as racist place to live?
Members of our staff went to the Central Wal-Mart to survey black customers as they came out of the store.  The first question we asked was, “Do you live in Central?”  If they said no, we thanked them and ended the interview.  If they saw yes, we proceeded with the next question, which was, “Since you have lived in Central, have you experienced any acts of racism or been made to feel uncomfortable out here?”
We got looks of puzzlement, laughter, and a lot of “Are you kidding?  We love it out here!  People treat us great!”  Out of 100 interviews, not a single black resident of Central said they had been discriminated against or felt uncomfortable in Central because of race.
We then proceeded to the next question, which was “Why do you live in Central?”
Here were the top three answers: 1) Great schools: “We want a good education for our children, and we couldn’t get it in Baton Rouge!” 2) Low crime: “Out here we can let our children play in the yard without fear of anything happening to them!”  3) Rural setting: “We love the country atmosphere.” “It makes us feel at home!”
But the most interesting part of our survey was yet to come.  We decided to poll the white people coming out of Wal-Mart and ask them the same question: “Why do you live in Central?”
Amazingly, the whites answered the question the same — good schools, low crime, and country atmosphere.   And in exactly that order!
The black people and the white people wanted the same things!
The opponents of St. George who holler “Racism!” are doing such a grave injustice to this community and to our people.  St. George isn’t about race.  It’s about creating a city where people of ALL races can go to public school and get a good education and where people of ALL races can live in their home or shop at the store without fear of being robbed or murdered.  It’s about creating a city where the people control their own destiny, and decisions are not made from afar.
I have a challenge to the people who are opposing St. George based on accusations of racism.  The challenge is this: Go out to Central and ask black people how they enjoy living in Central and having their children attend the Central School System.  Then maybe you will be able to speak with some authority about what having its own city and school system will mean to St. George.
St. George Is Already Paying for a City — Just Not Their City.  Today, $80 million in local taxes are collected each year from the proposed City of St. George.  Of that $80 million, $28 million is used to pay for the constitutional offices and parishwide offices in the parish.  But the remaining $52 million is transferred directly into the coffers of the City of Baton Rouge!  That is wrong!
The people of St. George are already paying for a city — the City of Baton Rouge — but it’s not their city.  The community where taxes are collected should get some of those taxes to pay for the needs of that community.  No one anywhere can honestly argue against that! Hammond was developed on a 19th Century Model, while Central was developed on a 21st Century Model
Central: A Conservative, Cost-Conscious City Government.
City Employees.  The City of Central has only three city employes.  So you can see that there is no bureaucracy, and the public is not accruing vast unfunded liabilities for hundreds of city employes who may want to retire in the future.  This obligation simply doesn’t exist in Central.
Law Enforcement. The people of Central pay a law enforcement tax to fund the Sheriff’s Office.  Before Central was incorporated in 2005, the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office was the primary law enforcement agency.  Eight years after incorporation, the Sheriff is still the primary law enforcement agency in the new City of Central.  There was no reason for Central to create its own full-time police department.  That would have been duplicatory.  But Central does have an all-volunteer Central Police Force which assists the Sheriff’s Office.  It is similar to Reserve Deputies. Every volunteer in the Central Police Department is fully certified.
Fire Protection.  Before incorporation, the people of Central funded the Central Fire Protection District through property taxes.  The district was providing excellent service. So there was no reason to create a new duplicatory fire department in the City of Central.
Sewer Services.  Central was part of the parish sewer system before incorporation, and it still is.  The people pay the same sewer user fees as residents of Baton Rouge.
Garbage Collection.  Garbage collection is parishwide.  So the people of Central receive the same garbage service that they did before incorporation, and they pay for it with the same monthly user fee as in Baton Rouge.
Parks and Recreation.  Parks and recreation in Central are provided by BREC which levies the same property tax in Central that it does in Baton Rouge.  So the incorporation of Central made no change in parks.
Not Complex, Not Duplicatory. Not expensive.  As a result, you can see that the creation of City of Central has really been quite simple — not complex and not duplicatory — with respect to police protection, fire protection, sewer, garbage collection, and parks.  All those services are the same now as they were before incorporation.  The only difference is that Central has added an all-volunteer Central Police Force to supplement the Sheriff’s Office.
What Did Change in Central?  There are three major areas — 1) public works, 2) planning and zoning, and 3) plan review, permits, inspections, and Code enforcement.  These are very important areas of local government, and all require considerable expertise.  However, these services can readily be contracted out to private providers.
The City of Central contracts with IBTS, a non-profit organization established by the National Governor’s Association, to provide these city services, plus a variety of other things, such as personnel to answer citizens complaints and problems.
IBTS provides the Public Works Director for the City of Central, engineering services, personnel to staff the planning and zoning commission, clerical staff, and building officials to do inspections.
Unlike inefficient local governments, which may send out four or five inspectors to one job site, IBTS sends a Certified Building Inspector, one person who performs all inspections, including building, plumbing, mechanical, and electrical.
In addition to the 26 employees that IBTS provides to staff the Central Municipal Services Center, IBTS contracts with general contractors to repair potholes and provide street overlay.  It uses sub-contractors who work at pre-negotiated prices.  Some services such as lot cutting are done at a fixed rate per linear foot, rather than by the hour.
Taxes. Municipal taxes in Central have NOT gone up with incorporation.  In fact, they are LESS than municipal taxes in Baton Rouge.  For one thing, the Central City Council has staunchly refused to levy a municipal property tax, which it could do without a vote of the people.  However, since the city is run so efficiently and is compiling large surpluses, there is no thought of a tax increase by the City of Central.  Instead, the city fathers have been considering where to use some of its accumulated surplus for capital improvements without the necessity of acquiring debt.
Experts in privatization estimated that the City of St. George could run the entire city with fewer than 10 employees, while utilizing a private contractor such as IBTS to provide city services.  They estimate the contractor would need to utilize roughly 50 staff members and certainly no more than 70 to provide the services that citizens will expect.
Funding of Constitutional Offices and Parishwide Offices.  The leaders of the St. George movement have pledged to continue to fund the parish constitutional offices, such as the 19th Judicial District and the District Attorney, as well as parishwide offices, such as the Parish Prison, with funds that flow into the St. George Fund.  So the Mayor’s claim that these
offices will be defunded is bogus.
Charges That St. George Is Breaking Away, That It Is Divisive, or That It Is Racist.  These allegations are intended to inflame the Mayor-President’s political base and have nothing to do with reality.
Obviously, the City of St. George is not breaking away from Baton Rouge.  It’s not part of Baton Rouge.  We’re talking about the unincorporated areas that Baton Rouge never wanted to annex.  Suddenly, the fact that the people there would want to have their own city is “dividing us.”  How ridiculous!  St. George is going to be right next door to Baton Rouge.  It will still be in East Baton Rouge Parish!  Everyone will flow from one city to the other freely and seamlessly.  There won’t a 10-foot-high wall or checkpoints.
Truly, having a great new city right next to Baton Rouge can only make Baton Rouge better.  Yes, IBM may put an office in Baton Rouge, but where are the employees going to live?  You can bet that, unless something changes, they will be headed to Livingston and Ascension!  But St. George will provide people with a great place to live right next door in the southern part of THIS parish — a city with good schools and safe neighborhoods.
The real racism in this debate has been the knee-jerk reaction against St. George.  Somehow if an area is majority white, conservative, and Republican, it shouldn’t be allowed to incorporate and have a city.  That is a racist position to take.
It is also racist to assume that blacks and whites are looking for something totally different in a city.  Will blacks, Latins, and Asians want to live in St. George?  Of course they will!
A few years ago, a black political leader made a statement on WAFB-TV about what a racist community Central is.  At the Central City News, we believed that was false but we wanted to find out what the black people living in Central thought about the Central community.  Do they see it as racist place to live?
Members of our staff went to the Central Wal-Mart to survey black customers as they came out of the store.  The first question we asked was, “Do you live in Central?”  If they said no, we thanked them and ended the interview.  If they saw yes, we proceeded with the next question, which was, “Since you have lived in Central, have you experienced any acts of racism or been made to feel uncomfortable out here?”
We got looks of puzzlement, laughter, and a lot of “Are you kidding?  We love it out here!  People treat us great!”  Out of 100 interviews, not a single black resident of Central said they had been discriminated against or felt uncomfortable in Central because of race.
We then proceeded to the next question, which was “Why do you live in Central?”
Here were the top three answers: 1) Great schools: “We want a good education for our children, and we couldn’t get it in Baton Rouge!” 2) Low crime: “Out here we can let our children play in the yard without fear of anything happening to them!”  3) Rural setting: “We love the country atmosphere.” “It makes us feel at home!”
But the most interesting part of our survey was yet to come.  We decided to poll the white people coming out of Wal-Mart and ask them the same question: “Why do you live in Central?”
Amazingly, the whites answered the question the same — good schools, low crime, and country atmosphere.   And in exactly that order!
The black people and the white people wanted the same things!
The opponents of St. George who holler “Racism!” are doing such a grave injustice to this community and to our people.  St. George isn’t about race.  It’s about creating a city where people of ALL races can go to public school and get a good education and where people of ALL races can live in their home or shop at the store without fear of being robbed or murdered.  It’s about creating a city where the people control their own destiny, and decisions are not made from afar.
I have a challenge to the people who are opposing St. George based on accusations of racism.  The challenge is this: Go out to Central and ask black people how they enjoy living in Central and having their children attend the Central School System.  Then maybe you will be able to speak with some authority about what having its own city and school system will mean to St. George.
St. George Is Already Paying for a City — Just Not Their City.  Today, $80 million in local taxes are collected each year from the proposed City of St. George.  Of that $80 million, $28 million is used to pay for the constitutional offices and parishwide offices in the parish.  But the remaining $52 million is transferred directly into the coffers of the City of Baton Rouge!  That is wrong!
The people of St. George are already paying for a city — the City of Baton Rouge — but it’s not their city.  The community where taxes are collected should get some of those taxes to pay for the needs of that community.  No one anywhere can honestly argue against that!