BATON ROUGE –– A challenge to a court order prohibiting an increase in property taxes is no longer relevant after April's parish elections, an appeals court ruled.
On Sept. 24, the First District Court of Appeal dismissed the an appeal by the city of Baton Rouge and the Parish of East Baton Rouge of the 9th Judicial District Court's Oct. 22 ruling that Louisiana law preempts the municipalities' authority to bring any special ad valorem taxes exceeding one mill without a ballot measure.
Baton Rouge officials originally proposed raising the millage rate to support the three-platoon system of the Baton Rouge Police Department. The Louisiana Legislative Auditor refused to certify the millage.
According to court documents, the municipal officials and auditor Daryl Purpera subsequently came to an agreement to allow the tax for 2017, but that the millage would not be certified after that unless it was approved by voters or by a court order.
In April's election, voters approved the millage rate.
After the appeals court scheduled a hearing, Purpera asked the court to throw out the case as moot. The appeals court agreed.
Judges Vanessa Whipple, Page McClendon and Toni Higginbotham approved the dismissal.