BATON ROUGE — Former Baton Rouge Councilman Darrell Glasper Sr. has filed a lawsuit alleging that two recently-created economic development districts broke the law when they raised taxes on local businesses without taxpayer approval.

Glasper's suit alleges that the taxes will take approximately $160 million from roughly one hundred businesses near LSU over the next 30 years. 

The two districts — the Louisiana State University Economic Development District and the LSU EDD Athletic Subdistrict — are controlled by the LSU president.

The lawsuit says that Act 203, which created the two districts, defined them to exclude any location where voters might have lived on a certain date, meaning that, in theory, if there are no voters, the districts can avoid voter sign-off on the taxes.

"This lawsuit points out that, thats illegal and that the taxes should not be imposed on businesses in the area unless the voters have a chance to approve," Glasper's attorney, William Most said. 

ACT 203 states that no portion of the district should include any land that is used for residential purposes.

If land was not being used for residential purposes before June 2023, but is now being used for residential purposes, it would not be excluded according to the lawsuit.

"The problem is that people move around. If there are any locations where people have started to use for residential use in the last couple of years, well, there might be voters in the district," Most said.

According to the suit, as of February 2024, 125 voters were registered within the economic development district. Nine voters were registered to 3810 West Lakeshore Drive -- which is the address for the LSU Administration Building. 115 other voters were registered to LSU's campus, and one voter was registered to 3930 Burbank Drive, which is the South Gate Village strip mall next to Walk-Ons.

We reached out to the East Baton Rouge Registrar of Voters, Steve Raborn, for documentation of voters registered within the district and subdistrict. The latest certificate provided is dated August 2025. Raborn said he could not comment on the matter because of litigation.

"Baton Rouge voters have some healthy skepticism about new taxes, and that is not a reason to avoid voter approval entirely; that's a reason to listen to the voters," Most said.

"What will this taxpayer money be used for? Publicly, the defendants have said there is no plan for the money," the lawsuit says. 

Glasper, however, says that private messages show that the plan is to use the tax dollars to help fund a $400 million arena along Nicholson Drive near LSU's campus.

Glasper's lawsuit alleges that the tax districts are illegal and bypassed a key step in their creation. According to Glasper, Louisiana law requires that such bodies must hold an election and have voters approve any sales tax increases. 

"There is no use being determined right now, that will happen at a future meeting, and it will be a public meeting, and we will notice everyone on it, but this is for the overall good of LSU," LSU Economic Development Board Member John Engquist said at an August EBR Metro Council meeting.

The lawsuit adds that Glasper and his lawyers are "not seeking to stop anyone from building the arena."

"If a private arena is going to be built, it should not be secretly funded with non-voter-approved tax increases," the lawsuit reads.

We reached out to LSU for comment, but have not heard back yet. 

The full lawsuit can be read here.