Your West Baton Rouge property tax bill is coming. Here's why it's higher.
West Baton Rouge Parish's combined tax rate rose to 101.4 mills this year, and nearly all of the increase came from the school board. Here's what it means for your bill, who pays most of it and five property tax amendments on the Nov. 3 ballot.
PORT ALLEN — West Baton Rouge Parish property tax bills should start arriving in early November, and most homeowners will see a higher rate than last year.
The combined parishwide rate for 2026 is 101.4 mills, up from 98.84 mills in 2025, Assessor Christopher Guerin told the parish council Sept. 24.
Guerin said the increase will be enough for people "to light up the telephone lines" asking why their taxes went up.
Here's the answer.
Where the increase came from
Nearly all of the 2.56-mill increase came from the West Baton Rouge Parish School Board. Parish government's share actually went down.
The school board voted in June to roll forward its two salary and benefits taxes from 10.87 mills each to 12 mills each. It also raised its debt service tax from 9.9 mills to 10.7 mills to cover bond payments. The board approved both changes unanimously at its June 17 meeting, after a public hearing. One resident spoke at the hearing and asked the board to post hearing notices on social media, where more parents would see them.
A roll forward lets a taxing body collect more money without a new election, up to the rate voters already approved. It takes a public hearing and a two-thirds vote.
The parish council rolled forward two of its own taxes in June: the general fund and 911 communications. But it lowered several others, so the parish's total rate dropped half a mill. Read our June story on the parish council's vote.
John Summers
| Taxing body | 2025 | 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| School board | 51.03 | 54.09 | +3.06 |
| Parish government | 26.32 | 25.82 | −0.50 |
| Law enforcement district | 16.10 | 16.10 | none |
| Atchafalaya Levee District | 3.89 | 3.89 | none |
| Assessment district | 1.50 | 1.50 | none |
| Total | 98.84 | 101.40 | +2.56 |
Within the parish's share, the 911 tax rose from 2 mills to 3, and recreation rose from 4 mills to 4.5. The library tax fell from 4.1 mills to 3.1, drainage fell from 6.2 to 5.7, and the Council on Aging fell from 1.5 to 1.
Sources: Assessor's 2025 millage rates and 2026 millage report.
What it means for your bill
For a $200,000 home with a homestead exemption, the 2.56-mill increase works out to about $32 more for the year.
Louisiana taxes homes at 10% of their market value, and the homestead exemption takes $7,500 off that. So a $200,000 home is taxed on $12,500. The full 101.4 mills on that home comes to about $1,268.
Your bill will differ depending on your home's value and exemptions. Residents of Port Allen, Brusly and Addis also pay city or town taxes that aren't included in the parishwide rate.
Who pays most of it
Taxing bodies across the parish will collect a little more than $81 million in property taxes this year, according to the assessor's report. Each mill brings in about $800,437.
Businesses will pay about 82% of that, Guerin said. He said the share was about 85% when he started in the office and has held around 81% to 82% for the last five or six years.
The total taxable value of property in the parish rose about 2.6% to $800.4 million. The biggest jump came from railroads, utilities, pipelines and telephone companies, which the Louisiana Tax Commission values. Their assessed value rose 17.7%, from $49.5 million to $58.3 million. Guerin called it "a gift late in the game."
More industrial property will come onto the tax rolls over the next two years as tax breaks under the state's Industrial Tax Exemption Program expire.
Contracts covering $612.5 million in property expire Dec. 31, 2026, and that property will first be valued on the 2027 tax roll, Guerin said. Contracts covering another $803.8 million expire Dec. 31, 2027, and will first be valued on the 2028 roll.
Guerin told the council that could bring in about $5 million more in property taxes the first year and about $7 million the second. After that, he said, no expirations of that size are coming. WBR Independent reported on Sept. 16 on what that means for local schools.
John Summers
When bills arrive
Guerin said his office expected to get on the Louisiana Tax Commission's agenda about a week and a half after the Sept. 24 meeting, then send the tax roll to the sheriff's office, which collects the taxes. He said he hoped notices would go out in the first part of November.
The parish council, sitting as the Board of Review, certified the 2026 assessments Sept. 24. The window to protest a 2026 assessment has closed. The assessor posts the lists for public inspection each summer, and the protest period follows in September.
Five property tax amendments on the Nov. 3 ballot
Guerin also pointed voters to the Nov. 3 election, where 5 of the 10 proposed constitutional amendments deal with property taxes.
"For some reason, they just can't keep their hands out of the assessors and property tax business," Guerin said of the Legislature.
The five property tax amendments would:
- Amendment 1: Let the surviving spouse of a disabled veteran transfer a property tax exemption to a new home.
- Amendment 2: Let local taxing bodies keep a lower tax rate without losing the right to later raise it back to the voter-approved maximum. This changes the roll forward process described above.
- Amendment 6: Allow parishes and cities to offer an extra property tax exemption for homeowners 65 and older who qualify for the assessment freeze.
- Amendment 9: Raise the income limit for the senior assessment freeze from $100,000 to $150,000.
- Amendment 10: Allow local tax exemptions for blighted properties that are fixed up.
Parish voters will also decide one local property tax on the same ballot: a 10-year renewal of the parishwide public health unit tax at up to 1.75 mills. The parish levied 1 mill of that tax this year.
Guerin said some of the amendments could help local taxing bodies, while others would benefit homeowners at the expense of those bodies' budgets. "If you're a property owner, you'll love it," he said.
