Earlier this year, a judge halted the formation of a new city from unincorporated neighborhoods in the southeast corner of Louisiana’s East Baton Rouge Parish, ruling that it was “unreasonable.” Campaign organizers had argued cityhood would give their residents more control over the spending of their tax dollars. But the judge ruled that the proposed City of St. George — whose residents would have been disproportionately white and wealthy — would take away revenue from the parish and the city of Baton Rouge, forcing them to make serious budget cuts, including to the sheriff’s and fire departments.
The case against St. George stands to have implications beyond Louisiana, writes Brentin Mock: Like other municipal breakaway attempts, the campaign aims to transfer revenue from an under-resourced government to communities that are already flush.
Bloomberg CityLab
By Angel Adegbesan
August 10, 2022