BATON ROUGE – Governor John Bel Edwards announced today he will use his constitutional authority to deny the ITEP applications by Folgers Coffee that were recently advanced by the state Board of Commerce and Industry.

The applications were advanced on appeal earlier this month after originally being denied by the New Orleans City Council, Orleans Parish School Board and the Orleans Parish Sheriff.

The Governor’s denial of the applications will be made official after he receives them from Louisiana Economic Development, the state’s economic development agency.

“I have always been clear that I believe local governments should have authority over exemptions to their own property taxes, which they use to fund priorities like roads, schools and law enforcement,” said Governor Edwards. “This revenue does not come to state government, so state government should not have all the decision-making power. That belief in local control of local money was the basis of the ITEP reforms my administration put in place in 2016. Therefore, I will deny the ITEP applications that were recently advanced by the state Board of Commerce and Industry after being rejected at the local level.”

A recent study showed that Gov. Edwards’ ITEP reforms increased funding for local governments, public schools, and law enforcement by more than $750 million in the first six years. In 2021 alone, ITEP reform resulted in $113 million in additional revenue for schools, $55 million for local law enforcement and $115 million for other local government needs. Those numbers are expected to rise in 2022 and 2023. Investment has increased after ITEP reform was put in place. Louisiana more than doubled the number and value of ITEP projects compared to the 2012-2016 gubernatorial term, from $50 billion in investment over four years to more than $100 billion over four years.