BATON ROUGE — Tensions rose in the lawsuit between the East Baton Rouge Parish government and the District Attorney's Office over funding this week as lawyers for the city-parish argued that St. George, along with other cities in the parish, should be sued as they directly benefit from the DA's services.

Although the City and Parish have consolidated their governments to minimize duplication of services, they remain separate and distinct legal entities. Currently, only the consolidated government of the Parish of East Baton Rouge and the City of Baton Rouge fund the DA's office, despite the office prosecuting crimes throughout the parish, including Baker, Central, St. George, and Zachary.

Lawyers argued that St. George made financial support for the District Attorney a key component of its plan for operating the new city during its trial of incorporation. Jean-Paul Tujague, an expert retained by St. George, promised that the city would pay $5.3 million for the constitutional offices of the parish each year, with $1,366,213 being allocated for the District Attorney's Office.

Despite being incorporated, it has yet to help finance the DA's operations, according to the documents.

"The consolidated City/Parish government cannot afford to subsidize constitutional offices that other municipalities directly benefit from," lawyers for the city-parish said.

The DA's office claimed that due to the incorporation of St. George, an outsized portion of the City/Parish's tax base was eliminated as the Parish is prohibited from collecting taxes within the boundaries of St. George. The city-parish, however, receives no revenue from other municipalities' taxes but subsidizes the provision of services for constitutional offices throughout the parish, including the District Attorney's Office on behalf of the municipalities.

While Louisiana Law provides that police juries are authorized to pay the District Attorney from their general fund, it does not mandate a specific amount. Lawyers for the city-parish argued that the lawsuit isn't about the existence of funding but the adequacy of the amount appropriated.

In the 2026 budget, the District Attorney requested $22.6 million. Previous budgets from 2019 to 2025 ranged from $7.2 million to $9.1 million. In the 2026 adopted budget, the Metro Council awarded the DA's office $7.4 million, with an additional $850,000 being added in March, bringing the total given to the DA's office to $8.3 million.

The District Attorney's Office said in its request that to meet basic Constitutional obligations, it needs at least $18 billion.

The 2026 budget forecasts that East Baton Rouge Parish will collect about $95.2 million this year. The District Attorney requested that the parish fund the DA's office about 24% of that total revenue.

WBRZ has reached out to St. George officials for comment.