Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome speaks in a press conference Friday afternoon in response to the Louisiana Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of the controversial proposed City of St. George at City Hall on April 26, 2024. Baton Rouge government agencies have been told to submit plans for budget cuts of 10% and 20%, highlighting the uncertainty surrounding the city-parish's finances caused by the incorporation of the new city of St.
George. It is still uncertain if the cuts will happen. But if they do, the reductions could reverberate throughout some of the parish's most consequential agencies, officials say.
St. George is set to take over a big portion of the sales taxes that go into the city-parish's general fund. Departments that get money from that fund were asked to submit a plan with 10% cuts and another with 20% cuts.
Those agencies include: On Friday, East Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome said the reduction requests given to departments in June were both a response to the stabilization of sales and use taxes as well as the pending rehearing at the time regarding the Louisiana Supreme Court's decision regarding St. George. The East Baton Rouge Metro Council will vote on a 2025 budget in December, which could include some of the cuts the city-parish has asked departments to submit.
District 3 Metro Council member Rowdy Gaudet said he has had meetings with the city's finance director and the Mayor's Office on the impact of St. George's incorporation o.