ST. GEORGE - A funding fight is brewing in East Baton Rouge Parish after St. George followed other cities in excluding money for parish services from its budget.

The City of St. George's first budget, passed Tuesday, shows $0 going towards the parish's constitutional offices, which include the parish prison, district attorneys office, and the coroner's office.

District Attorney Hillar Moore said that in 2022, St. George initially promised $6.6M in constitutional share.

A separate cost analysis prepared by the city-parish estimated that St. George needed to contribute more than $2M to cover the cost of those services.

“We aligned ourselves with the same practices as every other municipality in the parish. There is no other municipality that put money out of the general fund budget towards constitutional offices,” said St. George Mayor Dustin Yates. "Once again, I'll say it, and I'll say it a hundred times, this isn't a St George problem. This is a parish problem, and guess what? All of these municipalities depend on the constitutional offices to be successful."

Yates said St. George didn't budget for those services because the other cities in the parish - Baker, Zachary and Central - haven't.

"Traditionally speaking, constitutional offices are a parish function so they're constitutionally required to fund these parish offices," Yates said.

Sales taxes collected in Baton Rouge and unincorporated parts of the parish go to the general fund, which can then go to the constitutional offices. Recently, voters rejected a parish-wide property tax proposal to help fund the District Attorney's office.

"I think it's a problem, I think everybody in the parish relies on the constitutional offices," Yates said.

Yates said he plans to meet with city and parish leaders to find a solution that will apply to all municipalities.

“It should be fair and it should be equitable and the only way for that to happen is for everybody in the parish to get on board with some potential solutions to solve these parish problems," he said.