Opponents of giving industries breaks on their school property taxes in Louisiana have publicly requested a meeting with the CEO of ExxonMobil and asked that he withdraw all pending tax exemption requests.
“The tax exemptions in question would cost East Baton Rouge Parish public schools $6.2 million in lost revenue, yet would play no role as an incentive,” seven groups said in a letter to Darren Woods, chief executive officer and chairman of the energy giant. “The projects for which these exemptions are being sought already were completed in March 2017, nearly 18 months ago.”
The seven groups announced the letter to Woods at a news conference Thursday in front of the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board Office.
“We’re operating at a deficit. Teachers did not get a pay raise and have not gotten one in 10 years,” said Angela Reams-Brown, president of one of the East Baton Rouge Federation of Teachers.
The letter was signed by Reams as well as the heads of Together Baton Rouge, the East Baton Rouge Association of Educators, the Baton Rouge Education Coalition, One Community One School District, the Louisiana School Bus Operators Association Inc., and Service Employees International Union.
The outstanding exemption requests cover $152 million worth of property.
In a response Thursday, ExxonMobil noted that $152 million is just part of $269 million in total investment the corporate giant has made in Baton Rouge, helping to preserve its status as the largest taxpayer in the parish and the state.
“Out of the total 2017 investment, we anticipate to generate new property tax revenue of $7.9 million over 10 years, $15.2 million over 20 years, and $20.6 million over 30 years,” said Stephanie Cargile, a spokeswoman for ExxonMobil.
Cargile acknowledged that the projects in question are finished, though she said they were completed not in March 2017 but in late 2017: “They are crucial to the ExxonMobil Baton Rouge Complex staying competitive for future capital investment and growth in the Gulf Coast region.”
ExxonMobil is retaining 2,500 direct jobs with its 207 ITEP-eligible projects as well as spurring the hiring of 3,000 private contractors, Cargile said.
Together Louisiana, a coalition of faith-based groups and community activists, is the only group in the coalition not exclusively devoted to education issues. It has led a campaign to scale back the state’s 81-year-old Industrial Tax Exemption Program, or ITEP.
Adam Knapp, CEO of the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, in a written statement Thursday night blasted the coalition: "The continued irresponsible, anti-business rhetoric from organizations like the Federation of Teachers is damaging to the job climate in Baton Rouge. It’s also disingenuous. Statewide officials, local elected leaders, and citizens value the many investments of ExxonMobil in the Baton Rouge community are supportive of their continued growth and success here locally and throughout Louisiana."
For years under ITEP, state government relieved corporations from having to pay — for up to 10 years — the property taxes that parish and municipal governments use to fund local services. And the state did so without much input from local officials.
A state board gave final approval Wednesday to changes in the handling of a controversial 80-year-old tax break for manufacturers.
Under new ITEP procedures, the state still vets ITEP applications, but local taxing authorities can say “yea” or “nay” to the tax breaks within a 30-to-60-day window. The new rules also allow local governments to start collecting at least some property taxes immediately rather than waiting six years, as they do now, or 11 years, which was what ITEP had imposed for decades.
Telling stories of busted printers, teachers paying for fields trips out of pocket, and parents fundraising all the time for their schools, a …
Brod Bagert, lead organizer with Together Baton Rouge, said he got a call Thursday afternoon from an ExxonMobil representative, the first time more than in a year.
“We agreed to meet and talk about this locally,” he said, but he said he and others are willing to go further and travel to Irving, Texas, and talk to CEO Woods directly in hopes of bridging the impasse on this issue.
