Pentagon Barracks: the hidden legislative perk

Here’s a sound business plan that’s sure to attract shrewd investors in today’s competitive real estate market: Construct four apartment buildings containing 39 one- and two-bedroom units of an average size of 800 to 900 square feet each.

Throw in about $74,136.46 in free furniture and locate the $4.4 million apartment complex on prime property with scenic views of the Mississippi River on one side and the majestic Louisiana State Capitol building on the other. As a final inducement, offer the units for an average monthly rent of about $310, utilities included (sorry, no cable TV). Add two units assigned to a special VIP who pays $3,268 per month for 2,964 square feet, and the average monthly rent balloons to a whopping $368 per occupant.

Think you’d have any trouble attracting tenants at that price and with those amenities?

Probably not.

At those bargain basement rates and provided there were no maintenance costs, no new furniture to purchase, no remodeling needed, and if there were no increase in utilities along the way, and given a mortgage interest rate of 6 percent, the combined annual rental income would fall short of servicing the principal and interest on the debt, meaning owners would never break even on their investments.

A 40-year mortgage at 6 percent, for example, would require a monthly payment of $24,209.40 against total yearly rental income of only $18,778. Think you’d get many takers with a can’t-miss opportunity like that?

Again, probably not.

Yet, that’s what’s happening, thanks to a long-standing practice by state elected officials in Baton Rouge. Most Louisiana taxpayers are unaware of their own generosity in funding this arrangement during one of the worse economic recessions in decades.

And just who are the beneficiaries of such big-hearted largesse? Who are the lucky tenants? That would be those same elected officials, more specifically, a select handful of legislators from the House and Senate who, even in the face of a looming $1.6 billion state budget deficit next year nevertheless show no reluctance in taking advantage of the cheap rentals even as hundreds of their constituents and state workers alike are losing their jobs and struggling to keep their homes.

The apartment complex in question? The historic Pentagon Barracks that served as part of the LSU campus from 1886 to 1926. Before that, in 1816, the fort at Baton Rouge was selected as an ordnance depot and a contract awarded for the construction of four barracks buildings and a combination commissary-warehouse building. The barracks are now on the National Historic Register.

Early on, the barracks played host to such dignitaries as presidents Zachary Taylor, Abraham Lincoln, U.S. Grant, Warren Harding, and William Taft; Jefferson Davis; Gens. Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, James Longstreet, Nathan Bedford Forrest, George Armstrong Custer, George B. McClellan, P,G,T, Beauregard and William Tecumseh Sherman, the first president of the military academy that would become LSU.

Today, there are 39 units occupied by 50 legislators n 25 from each house. The Louisiana Legislature is comprised of 144 members n 39 senators and 105 representatives. Two other units are occupied by the lieutenant governor, even though recently-elected Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne is a resident of Baton Rouge. Two others, Rep. Karen Gaudet St. Germain (D-Plaquemine) and Sen. Rob Marionneaux (D-Livonia) live only 15 and 24 miles, respectively, from Baton Rouge, which could leave some wondering why those three need special housing in Baton Rouge.

Occupancy of the Pentagon Barracks apartments appears to be more a matter of status than seniority or party affiliation, since several tenants are in their first term in the Legislature and there are nearly as many Republicans as Democrat tenants from each house. A request by Capitol News Service for an explanation of criteria used in assigning apartments was not answered by either the House clerk’s office or the Division of Administration.

Rent charged the legislators (other than for the House speaker and Senate president) ranges from $185 per month each for six senators sharing three apartments to $400 for each of eight representatives who are the sole occupants of their units. Speaker of the House Jim Tucker (R-Terrytown) decides which House members will get apartments. He pays $500 and $125, respectively, for two separate apartments he assigned to himself.

On the Senate side, Senate President Joel T. Chaisson (D-Destrehan) assigns the 21 apartments to 25 senators. Chaisson pays $565 per month for his 1,764 square-foot apartment, which is double the size of the next in size n 10 units that are 882 square feet each.

But that arrangement apparently was not good enough for Tucker. During this year’s regular legislative session, almost immediately after the election of former Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu as mayor of New Orleans, Tucker pushed through HB-1172 that would have moved the lieutenant governor’s quarters to a smaller apartment and allowed the speaker to take over the lieutenant governor’s two apartments, which total 2,964-square-foot. The $3,268 month rental on the lieutenant governor’s apartments currently is paid by the Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism. The two units underwent $187,000 in extensive renovations in 2004 at the behest of Landrieu, then newly-elected as lieutenant governor.

HB-1172 was approved 86-0 by the House with 17 either absent or not voting. Among those 17 were six Pentagon Barracks tenants: Andy Anders (D-Vidalia), Roy Burrell (D-Shreveport), Noble Ellington (D-Winnsboro), Rick Gallot (D-Ruston), Cedric Richmond (D-New Orleans), and Ernest Wooten (I-Belle Chase). The bill also passed unanimously in the Senate but died as one of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s few vetoes of the session.

Three neighboring states n Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi n were contacted to learn if those states provided discounted housing for legislators. Only one, Arkansas, did and there apparently is some controversy about that policy, mostly because of several legislators who are chronically late in paying their rent. The state-owned apartment building is across the street from the Arkansas State Capitol and contains 48 apartments that are assigned to representatives and senators at rentals of $300 and $350 per month, according to Cathy Bradshaw, deputy secretary of state.

Arkansas pays its lawmakers a flat salary of $15,362 per year, plus $136 per diem and mileage expenses, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).

NCSL also reports that Texas pays its legislators $7,200 per year and $168 per diem for days that the Legislature is in session, compared to Louisiana, which pays legislators $16,800 per year and $159 per diem. Mississippi lawmakers receive $10,000 per year plus $123 per diem during legislative sessions. Additionally, Alabama pays its lawmakers a base salary of $3,650 per year, plus $3,958 per month during legislative session only and $50 per diem only for the three days per week that the Legislature actually meets.

Louisiana legislators per diem is paid for each of the 85 calendar days of the even-year legislative sessions and 60 days of odd-year sessions even though the Legislature meets on fewer than half of those days. The same $159 per diem is also paid to the 50 Pentagon Barracks tenants despite their favored housing status.

State records for the four Pentagon Barracks buildings shows that their combined appraised value is slightly more than $4.4 million for 41 units comprising 43,424 square feet.

A sampling of the items of furniture purchased for legislative tenants include:

• Entertainment center, $3,200

• Sofas, $1,520 and $1,304

• Chairs, $1,100 and $849

• Eighteen dining room chairs for Speaker Tucker, $64 each

• Loveseat, $798

• Dresser, $969

• Chair with Ottoman, $1,103

In all, $31,670 was spent on furnishings for House tenants and another $42,466.46 for senators’ apartments.

Tucker, a Republican, and Democrat Chaisson apparently play no particular party favorites in assigning tenants to the Pentagon Barracks apartments. Of the 25 House tenants, 15 are Democrats, nine are Republicans and one is an Independent. Chaisson’s tenant assignments include 11 Republicans, 13 Democrats, and one Independent. If, however, Sen. John Alario follows through on his recent statement that he is leaning toward switching to Republican, the Senate tenants will be evenly split between Democrats and Republicans.

Lawmakers lucky enough to secure apartments in the Pentagon Barracks include, on the House side, state Reps. Damon Baldone (D-Houma), Gordon Dove Sr. (R-Houma) and Joe Harrison (R-Gray); and, among state senators, D.A. “Butch” Gautreaux (D-Morgan City) and Joel Chaisson II (D-Destrehan).

The Pentagon Barracks in Baton Rouge has raised questions about state lawmakers spending. Units in the complex cost legislators approximately $368 per occupant per month. TOM ASWELL