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- St. George est un projet de municipalité américaine située dans la paroisse de Baton Rouge Est en Louisiane. (fr)
- St. George is a proposed city in Louisiana that was approved in a ballot initiative on October 12, 2019. Upon incorporation, it would become the fifth largest city in Louisiana and the second largest in East Baton Rouge Parish with a population of 86,316. The proposed city originates from a previously unincorporated area of East Baton Rouge Parish located southeast of the City of Baton Rouge. A legal action to challenge the incorporation of St. George was filed in 19th Judicial District Court in East Baton Rouge Parish on November 4, 2019. On May 31, 2022, Judge pro tem Martin Coady ruled that the incorporation of St. George was "unreasonable" under state law and denied the incorporation. A St. George spokesman said the ruling would be appealed. Until the litigation is resolved and appeals exhausted, the Governor of Louisiana is unable to appoint a temporary governing authority (i.e., mayor and city council) for the proposed city. Consequently, the St. George incorporation effort remains in "legal limbo". The ruling was based on state law governing "Legal action contesting an incorporation": If the district court determines that the provisions of this Subpart have not been complied with, that the proposed municipality will not be able to provide the public services proposed in the petition within a reasonable period of time, or that the incorporation is unreasonable, the district court shall enter an order denying the incorporation. La. R.S. 33:4(E)(2)(a) The judgment addressed five issues presented at trial: 1.
* Whether the boundaries of the proposed City of St. George were drawn in a discriminatory manner.The Court ruled that the boundaries were non-discriminatory ("The perception that racism played a role in establishing of the boundaries is a reasonable impression. The perception may exist, but the Incorporators have provided a racially neutral reason why certain areas were excluded and not purposely drawn in a racially discriminatory fashion" [pp. 4–5]). 2.
* Whether there has been full compliance with the incorporation procedural provisions.The Court ruled that the provisions were minimally met ("...the petition disclosure minimally satisfies the requirement of the statute. The terse description did place citizens on notice of what services would be provided and what may be provided" [pp. 5–6]). 3.
* Whether the municipality can in all probability provide the proposed public services within a reasonable period of time.The Court ruled that "the Incorporators, if properly funded, could in all probability provide some of the proposed public services within a reasonable period of time…. However, it is doubtful that [the other services listed in the petition for incorporation] can be provided without increasing taxes…. Their petition did condition the providing of some services if funds were available." (pp. 6–7) 4.
* Whether the incorporation of St. George is reasonable. The Court noted that "The estimated cost of $42 million [to run St. George] and the $9 million in [Unfunded Accrued Liabilities] amount to $51 million dollars. The estimated revenue for the City of St. George is $48 million dollars from the 2% sales tax. Based on the evidence, the City of St. George would run a deficit of approximately $3 million dollars on day one and this excludes the additional cost of the Sheriff. This deficit will be a huge negative on the City of St. George. St. George is required to run a balanced budget and because of this deficit there would be layoffs and a reduction in public services" (p. 8) 5.
* Whether the Incorporation may adversely impact other municipalities in the vicinity.The Court determined that "If St. George were to incorporate, the [Baton Rouge municipal budget] general fund would further be reduced by $48 million dollars[,] leaving the City of Baton Rouge with a 45% cut in its budget. This reduction would include public services such as roads, traffic control, the River Front, the River Center, the State Capitol and overall the quality of life in Baton Rouge. Incorporators proposed contributing $6.6 million dollars annually towards the Constitutional Offices. This results in a reduction of approximately 35% from the general fund. Clearly, the loss of revenue will have a substantial adverse effect on Baton Rouge" (p. 9). (en)
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