East Baton Rouge Parish leaders are moving ahead with plans to study whether Baton Rouge and the parish should split into two separate governments, laying out a timeline that could stretch nearly two years before any final recommendation is made. Metro Council members discussed the possibility of deconsolidating the city-parish government on Tuesday, reviewing a proposed framework meant to guide the process forward.
The framework, as outlined in a report reviewed by the council and detailed by WAFB, includes a financial impact study, legal guidance, and a process for gathering community feedback before the council receives a final report and recommendation. It spans a timeline of 17 to 24 months divided into three phases, and is designed to help determine whether separating the governments is financially and structurally feasible. No decision has been made on whether Baton Rouge and the parish will actually separate.
Currently, the city of Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge Parish operate under a single consolidated structure, sharing a mayor-president and a Metro Council, according to WAFB's earlier reporting. Under one possible version of deconsolidation, Baton Rouge would get its own mayor and city council while the parish would have a separate parish president and parish council.
Why Some Council Members Want a Closer Look
Councilman Cleve Dunn has argued that Baton Rouge is at a disadvantage compared to other municipalities within the parish. He said Baker, Zachary, Central and St. George each have their own local city councils and mayors advocating for their communities' resources, something Baton Rouge lacks under the current consolidated system.
Dunn and Councilman Darryl Hurst said the city-parish will begin forming a community stakeholder group or committee as part of the process. That group will help evaluate what a potential separation could look like and will consider whether the current Metro Council should be restructured or replaced with separate governing bodies altogether. Hurst said leaders must ultimately decide whether to create a new Metro Council, a new city council, a new mayoral position, or a new parish council.
Dunn said the goal is to provide a progress update within three to four months, giving residents and fellow council members a sense of where the stakeholder process stands well before the full 17-to-24-month window closes.
A Plan That Allows Study, Not a Decision
The proposed plan would allow leaders to examine the parish's revenue, the government structure, and the potential impact of separating the parish and city, but it does not itself decide whether deconsolidation happens. City-parish leaders have previously estimated that gathering the information needed to evaluate a split could take about a year, a timeline that roughly aligns with the newly discussed multi-phase framework.
Mayor-President Sid Edwards has said he is not in favor of deconsolidation at this time, but wants to look at the data before taking a firmer position, a stance he shared as reported by WWNO. A separate report expected before the council was intended to detail the separation of parish and city revenues and expenses and include a sample annual budget for both, along with a recommendation on whether each government would be sustainable if deconsolidation occurred, per WBRZ's reporting on the matter.
Months of False Starts Before Tuesday's Discussion
Tuesday's framework review follows a bumpy few months for the deconsolidation conversation. The council previously pulled the discussion from its September agenda after members raised questions, WBRZ's report noted. Around the same time, Hurst withdrew an earlier proposal to create a commission so he could revise it based on feedback from colleagues, the same outlet's report on that meeting indicated.
Hurst said at the time that the earliest the council could take up a revised version would be the second week of October. Councilman Aaron Moak had proposed adding two representatives from unincorporated Baton Rouge to Hurst's commission plan, and Hurst agreed to incorporate that recommendation into his amended proposal. Dunn had also floated having the city-parish's finance department draft a report on what a split budget would look like, but Finance Director Angie Savoy said the request was too complicated to complete on short notice, especially given recent job cuts in the last budget cycle.
The renewed push comes as the parish works through its own budget pressures. The proposed 2027 parish budget increases spending by about $20 million compared with the 2026 plan, with roughly $344 million allocated to the General Fund that supports core services including police, fire and the District Attorney's Office, according to WBRZ's budget coverage. Whether that financial backdrop shapes the deconsolidation study remains to be seen as the stakeholder group takes shape in the months ahead.
