In St. George, a Home's Paper Trail Now Runs Through Two Governments

The City of St. George's building permit page carries a short notice below its list of online services. It says that for applications submitted before 10/16/2024, people should visit East Baton Rouge Parish. That one date splits the records for every house inside the new city. A kitchen remodel permitted in 2023 sits in the parish's system. A roof replaced in 2025 sits in the city's system. If you're buying a home in St. George, checking its permit history now means checking two places. If you're selling, you may be asked to account for both.

Most talk about St. George since the Louisiana Supreme Court ruling has been about taxes. For a single house changing hands, though, the change that comes up most is where its records are kept and which government handles the street out front.

The Permit File Has Two Halves

St. George's Building Department now handles building, electrical, mechanical and plumbing permits. It also handles plan review, inspections at every phase, certificates of occupancy and completion, and code enforcement complaints. Applications go through an online portal called GovMotus. Contractors and homeowners use it to apply for permits, request inspections, check permit status and upload documents. The city doesn't run this work with its own staff. Its FY2027 budget explains that St. George chose to privatize services. In June 2025 it signed a contract with the Institute for Building Technology and Safety, or IBTS, to provide permitting, inspections, planning and zoning, engineering and code enforcement through June 2030.

Anything older than that cutoff is in the parish's records. East Baton Rouge Parish publishes an EBR Building Permits dataset on Open Data BR. It covers construction and occupancy permits parish-wide, with fields for full address, application date and issue date. The same permits can be viewed on a map through Open Neighborhood BR, the parish's public mapping portal, which has a Building Permits layer.

The GovMotus portal is set up for the people who file permits. The city's help materials explain how to create an account, link contractor permits and find inspection reports. For a buyer, the easiest way to see a permit pulled after October 2024 may be to ask the seller or the seller's contractor for the permit number and the final inspection report. The Building Department is another option.

This matters during an inspection period. If a home's enclosed patio, new HVAC system or rewired panel shows up in the inspector's report, the next question is whether it was permitted and finaled. In St. George, the answer depends on the year the work was filed.

One Permit Still Starts at the Parish

The split isn't a clean handoff. St. George's own permit page says sewer tie-in permits must come from East Baton Rouge Parish Subdivision Engineering. Those permits are required before the city will issue a building permit for new construction. If you're buying a lot to build on, or buying a home still under construction, the file will include paperwork from both governments, and the parish approval comes first.

Zoning moved to the city. St. George has its own Unified Development Code, updated through June 23, 2026, and a Zoning & Land Use Map linked from its permit page. If a buyer is thinking about a pool, a fence, a shop building or a pond, St. George has its own application forms for each. The city also offers a Permit Fee Calculator that estimates plan review and flood zone fees before you apply.

First Confirm Which Side of the Line the House Is On

None of this applies until you know the address is actually inside St. George. The parish's EBRGIS Jurisdiction Lookup is the usual quick check. Its description says it returns the city limits of Baton Rouge, Baker, Central or Zachary, or unincorporated East Baton Rouge Parish. St. George isn't on that list. The tool's page lists the parish Department of Information Services at [email protected] for help or to report errors. For a property near the edge of the city, it makes sense to confirm with St. George directly before deciding which records to search.

Who Answers for the Street, the Ditch and the Trash

The same split applies after closing. Here is how services break down, based on the city's FY2027 budget and its public works page from August 2026:

Complaints and service requests still start at 311. Under an interim agreement the parish announced in July 2025, East Baton Rouge logs requests from St. George and forwards them to the city. The city then decides whether parish crews or city and private providers handle the work. The agreement says it can be amended as responsibilities change.

Pending requests are worth asking about when a house is sold. The FY2027 budget sets aside $23.6 million for public works. It also reports that about 32 percent of roughly 1,800 work orders transferred to the city had been closed as of April 2026. If a seller reported a slow-draining ditch or a failing culvert before the handoff, that request may now be in the city's queue. It's reasonable for a buyer to ask whether any request is still open and whether it has been resolved.

Road projects are also run by the city now. In May 2026, WAFB reported that St. George planned a full rebuild of Elliot Road between Tiger Bend and Hoo Shoo Too, a project of about $1 million. Construction was expected to start that summer and finish this fall, weather permitting. Mayor Dustin Yates explained the decision to WAFB this way:

"We could spend a lot of money and resources filling potholes every other day or we could go with a more permanent fix."

If you're buying near a road project, it helps to know whether the work is finished, underway or still being designed, because that affects the commute and the curb appeal.

The Tax Bill Changed Less Than the Paperwork Did

Many people assume a new city means a new property tax. St. George's FY2027 budget says the City Council has not levied any ad valorem property tax since the city was formed. In 2025, St. George residents paid $171,256,782 in property taxes to various East Baton Rouge Parish taxing bodies, according to the parish assessor's figures cited in the budget. The same document notes that one mill would raise about $1.5 million for the city. For now, the property tax line on a St. George home goes to the same parish bodies it went to before incorporation.

Sales tax shifted without stacking. Voters approved a 2 percent city sales and use tax in December 2024. It took effect April 1, 2025, and replaced the parish's existing 2 percent general-purpose sales tax inside St. George instead of adding to it.

One larger question is still open. More than a year after the Supreme Court ruling, The Advocate reported that St. George leaders and city-parish officials still disagreed about the city's official incorporation date. St. George leaders pointed to 2019, when voters approved the city. City-parish leaders pointed to April 2024, when the Supreme Court ruled. The date matters for possible back-tax claims and for retirement and health benefit costs. City-parish finance officials estimated those costs at $9 million to $11 million a year. In the same report, Yates said the retirement talks would go through a third-party mediator and were in an early stage. How that gets resolved, and whether it ever affects local budgets, is still unknown. This post is general information and not legal, tax or financial advice, so please confirm anything that affects your own purchase or sale with an attorney, tax professional or lender.

A Due Diligence Order That Fits St. George

For a home inside the city, the record search goes in a predictable order:

1. Confirm the address is inside St. George city limits by checking with the city, since the parish jurisdiction lookup doesn't list St. George.
2. Search the parish's EBR Building Permits dataset or Open Neighborhood BR for work filed before October 16, 2024.
3. Ask the seller for permit numbers and final inspection reports on any work done since then through St. George's GovMotus system.
4. Check the St. George Zoning & Land Use Map if you're planning an addition, pool or outbuilding.
5. Ask whether any 311 requests about drainage, potholes or right-of-way issues are still open.

Quick Answers

Who do I call about a missed garbage pickup in St. George? East Baton Rouge Parish still handles garbage and recycling, and requests go through 311.

Does a sewer problem go to the city or the parish? The parish. It still administers sewer service, and sewer tie-in permits for new construction come from EBR Parish Subdivision Engineering.

Where do I report work I think was done without a permit? St. George's permit page lists [email protected] for reports of unpermitted work.

If you're buying or selling a home in St. George and want help working out which permit records apply to it, Debra Sullivan Dream Homes can help you sort through both sets of records before your inspection period runs out. Contact us to get started.