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Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
On Monday, the Baton Rouge chapter of the NAACP issued a statement warning that the incorporation of St. George poses significant threats to Baton Rouge’s education system. What is your response to that?
The creation of the city of St. George does not create a school system. A school system is a completely separate process, separate budget and separate governance model than the city of St. George. St. George was created as a city by the Louisiana Supreme Court’s ruling, not a school system. They’re not related and any attempts to [conflate] the two is simply an attempt to mislead the public.
That feeds into my next question, because the NAACP also raised concerns over House Bill 6, which would make it easier to create a new school district without input from Baton Rouge voters. Are you in favor of that legislation?
Honestly, I don’t have anything to do with that legislation. I would defer to someone who has more knowledge about it, because right now, our sole focus is on building the city. That’s a legislative process, so that’s up to the legislators. Again, we’re solely focused on what we have to do to build our city.
In an interview with WBRZ-TV, you argued that the city-parish should pay back the taxes St. George residents have paid to East Baton Rouge Parish government since 2019. Are you proposing that the individual citizens of St. George should get their money back, or are you proposing that the city of St. George should get that tax revenue back?
At this point, everything is on the table. There’s going to be a long negotiation process between the city of St. George and East Baton Rouge Parish, and that’s going to cover the gamut of everything from sharing services and working together to separating services and dividing up assets and liabilities. If money gets exchanged, returned or refunded, that would be a part of that process.
What I do know is what the state Supreme Court said in the majority opinion, which is clearly that the citizens of St. George have been subsidizing city of Baton Rouge services for a long time without receiving services in return. Perhaps the citizens of St. George—or the government of St. George—deserve some of that money back.
Do you have any ballpark estimates of how much money you believe should be refunded?
No, and here’s a good reason why: The city of Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge Parish don’t know, and that was proven at trial testimony. They have no idea the amount of expenses that were incurred to run city of St. George services. They have no clue. Again, that’s going to be subject to negotiation. I can refer back to what Mayor Kip Holden’s agreement was with the city of Central during their litigation—Mayor Holden put aside 10 percent of every month’s sales tax revenue so if Central was successful they would have a starting point for their city—but determining where that number falls would be subject to a lot of negotiation, I’m sure.
If negotiations were to stall, is this something that organizers would be willing to file a lawsuit over?
Our one purpose is to serve the citizens of St. George. We are always going to be willing to do whatever is in the best interest of the citizens of St. George. And it wouldn’t be organizers—if somebody is filing a lawsuit on behalf of the city of St. George, we’re talking about the St. George Transition District or the city of St. George mayor and city council. It wouldn’t be organizers. Those people would have to make that decision at that time.
