Coach Sid to Reform Parish Budget

By Woody Jenkins, Editor Central City News

Facing his first real controversy as Mayor-President, Coach Sid Edwards walked into a packed meeting of the Chamber of Commerce of East Baton Rouge Parish on Tuesday, Feb. 25. It was a standing room only crowd composed of all major news outlets in the Capital City, a large number of elected officials, and a host of supporters and opponents of his budget reform plan.

The legendary coach, a newcomer to politics, launched into the topic at hand — the East Baton Rouge Parish Library tax — and handled it like a seasoned pro, making jokes 

and handling questions with ease.  If anyone expected the new Mayor-President to fall on his face, they were severely disappointed.  The crowd burst into applause numerous times, and he seemed to persuade all but his most committed opponents.

Since taking office Jan. 2, Edwards’ team has been analyzing the various departments of City-Parish government and independent agencies.  They were shocked by the budget of the Parish Library.

In East Baton Rouge Parish, the Library Control Board is spending $65 million a year — a sum which dwarfs the spending of some of America’s large cities. East Baton Rouge Parish has a population of 448,000.

Coach Sid reported the Nashville library has a budget of $38 million, and it serves a population of 715,000.

The Mayor-President also drew a comparison with Dallas, Texas, a city of 1.3 million people.  The Dallas library operates 29 branches with 9 million visitors a year.  Their budget is now $43 million.

The public library budget in Houston with a population is 2.3 million is $50 million.

The public library budget in Orleans Parish, population 364,000, is $21 million.

The East Baton Rouge Parish Library Board is not under the control of the City-Parish government.  It sets its own budget, which is not approved through the appropriation process.  Neither the Mayor-President not the Metro Council has any say about how much the Library Board spends or how it spends it.

The revenue for libraries in the parish is generated by a dedicated property tax of 9.89 mills. Those funds are collected by the Sheriff and disbursed to the Library Board which has sole control of them.

In addition to its high operating costs, Coach Sid said the Library Board is sitting on a large surplus.  The City-Parish Finance Department says the surplus now amounts to $116 million.

The Mayor says some agencies are overfunded while others, representing some of the parish’s most urgent needs, are severely underfunded.  

The millage rate of the Library Board was set nearly 40 years ago, and the dollar amount that tax generates has no relationship to the amount needed to run a library system in a city the size of Baton Rouge.

The current Library tax expires December 31, and the Library Control Board asked the Metro Council to put a proposal renewing the tax for 10 years on the ballot this fall.

Before the tax is locked in for another 10 years, Coach Sid said now is the time to correct the inequities before they get worse.

With respect to the $116 million surplus, Coach Sid said it is important to remember whose money that is.  It is not the Library Board’s, he said, but rather it belongs to the people of the parish.

The Mayor-President is proposing that $52.6 million be used to pay down the parish debt by $52.6 million.  This would be one-time money and would be used for a one-time expenditure.

He said reducing the debt by $52.6 million would result in savings to the taxpayer of $9.6 million a year indefinitely into the future.

Another $9.5 million of the surplus would be used for one-time public safety needs including the District Attorney’s office, Public Defender, Community Policing, Youth Violence Intervention, the Gang Violence Task Force, and transforming the Brave Cave into a community space serving local residents.  Another $11.5 million of the surplus would go for economic development, primarily development of the River Center but also including an anti-blight campaign and ending food deserts.

Under the Mayor-President’s plan, the 10-year renewal of the 9.89 mill tax would be submitted to the voters at a lower rate, and the funds generated would go into the General Fund of the parish.

This recurring revenue would generate $68.6 million a year.

Of these revenues, $21 million would be used for parishwide priorities, including public safety, $10 to 10.5 million; road maintenance and beautification, $6 to 6.5 million; drainage, $2 to 2.5 million, and mental health and homelessness, $1 to 1.5 million.

From this recurring money, the Library would be funded at $38 million a year — far more than any other library system in the state and far more per capita than any large library system in Texas.

Coach Sid said that at this level of spending, the East Baton Rouge Parish Library system will not need to cut services.

The remaining $9.6 million in recurring funds would be used to stabilize the City-Parish budget.

Most importantly, the funds formerly dedicated solely for libraries would be appropriated by the Metro Council and prioritized to meet all the needs of the parish.

As Coach Sid said, we don’t have a revenue problem.  The problem, he said, is we have funds in various silos that we cannot access to meet the needs of the people of the parish. 

Coach Sid said we have a great library system and we will continue to have a great library system, but there are many other needs in the parish that also need to be addressed.

The Mayor-President said the loss of revenue to the City-Parish  resulting from the incorporation of St. George will not cause a crisis if his plan is adopted.

“Our problem is not St. George, but the lack of fiscal responsibility.”  He said his plan is the beginning of the process of reforming the budget process and meeting the needs of the parish without higher taxes.

He said Baton Rouge is not the same as 30 years ago or even 10 years ago, but if we tighten our belt and are fiscally responsible, things will get better and better.