Monroe or Baton Rouge: Where Should 2005 State Farm Tax Money Go?

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A Louisiana district court judge has granted a temporary restraining order preventing, for now, the payment of nearly $2 million in tax revenue to East Baton Rouge Parish that Ouachita Parish officials believe belongs to them.

The dispute centers on the relocation of State Farm Insurance Cos. operations from Monroe to Baton Rouge in 2004 and 2005.

The restraining order by 4th Judicial District Court Judge Wilson Rambo followed a lawsuit filed by the Ouachita Parish Police Jury and the city of Monroe against the Louisiana Tax Commission and State Farm.

The suit claims that a decision by the tax commission earlier this week to allow State Farm to pay 2005 property taxes on insurance premiums to East Baton Rouge Parish rather than Ouachita Parish is “incorrect and illegal.” Monroe City Schools Superintendent James Dupree said the school system, which also faces a potential revenue loss, plans to join the suit.

Ouachita Parish tax assessor Rich Bailey has received a letter from the tax commission stating that State Farm requested the tax money go to East Baton Rouge because the majority of their business was located there by Jan. 1, 2005.

Jamey Whitlow, a State Farm tax supervisor, previously sent a letter to the tax commission, which said State Farm believed the property tax money should go to East Baton Rouge Parish.

“Although the Monroe Operations Center building was open on January 1, 2005, the majority of operations had moved from there during 2004. The true center of operations in the State of Louisiana had moved to the Leadership Office, located in East Baton Rouge Parish,” Whitlow wrote.

Assistant District Attorney Jay Mitchell said determining the amount of operations and the number of employees at the Monroe location on Jan. 1 will be critical to the lawsuit.

“There was a large volume of property and a significant number of employees,” Mitchell said.