Baton Rouge's go-it-alone question stalls

Whether Baton Rouge can stand alone as a city will have to wait. A request for a report was on the Metro Council agenda last week, but time, money and procedure have put it on hold.

Why it matters: A report would open a debate that's been simmering since St. George became a city, joining Zachary, Baker and Central. A top city-parish official privately told RedEye that debate is the start of a long road he believes ends in a separate city.

The details:

• Council Member Cleve Dunn asked the finance department whether Baton Rouge, split from the parish, could pay its own bills.
• City-parish finance director Angie Savoy told the council that the job would take about 18 months, far slower than Dunn wanted, and that an independent accounting firm should handle it.
• The finance department plans to return with recommended next steps Nov. 10.
• Hiring a consulting firm falls to the Mayor-President's office, which holds the budget and the authority. RedEye has asked whether the mayor is interested and is waiting to hear back.

The big picture: East Baton Rouge’s consolidated government allocates taxes more efficiently. But losing St. George, now the state's fifth-largest city, has tightened the parish budget and stirred grumbling that Baton Rouge needs its own mayor.

• As it stands, the mayor-president serves both the city and the parish. 

The bottom line: Dunn got the question out front, but it's likely to sit a while, and a slow report would push the real debate back a couple of years or more. Still, nothing stops Baton Rouge residents from starting their own breakaway movement.