BATON ROUGE, LA – Officials exploring the separation of Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge Parish government say the change could improve accountability by giving each government someone else to hold accountable.
Under the proposed arrangement, residents reporting potholes, drainage problems or missed services would receive clearer instructions about which other office they should have called.
“Right now, we have to explain why something hasn’t been done,” a spokesperson said. “With two governments, we can explain why it hasn’t been done by them.”
Supporters say separate administrations would eliminate confusion over responsibilities by allowing both offices to confidently identify a problem as belonging to the other.
A shared phone system could streamline the process, transferring callers between city and parish departments until their lunch breaks end.
Officials emphasized that dividing government would require careful negotiations over assets, debts and which administration gets to blame St. George.
Residents would ultimately benefit from two separate budgets showing that neither government has enough money to fix the same ditch.
