The President Mayor offers to pick up money from the parish library system for financing BRPD – WBRZ

Baton Rouge – Mayor of Baton Mayor Ruzh, Sid Edwards wants to reduce taxes and give an increase to police by taking money from the public library system.

Edwards said the library has a “budget surplus” from “years of overcoming citizens”.

The city’s budget for 2025 shows that the library system ended 2023 with a balance of just over $ 116 million. In the same year, the library took over $ 62 million and spent just over $ 56 million.

“I suppose I could choose a lot of things, you know? I just looked at the surplus,” said President Mayor Sid Edwards.

The Edwards plan will require a public vote to move money.

“We are not out to hurt libraries, we actually have an commitment to have the best funded libraries in Louisiana,” Edwards said.

According to his proposal, city grind will drop from 11.1 mills to 9.8 mills, which Edwards says will be the largest tax in two decades. The plan will also raise the average payment for Baton Rouge police officers from $ 40,900 to $ 58,000.

Additional funding for “Improvements in Economic Development and Critical Infrastructure” will also be allocated, and each member of the Council will also receive funding for its special projects area, the Edwards office said.

“It was careful attention to ensure that we would maintain the best publicly funded library system in the state,” the press Edwards said. “I look forward to working on the EBR subway to prioritize how the city-market city spends valuable taxpayers.”

Mary Stein, an assistant director at the parish library in East Baton Rouge, has denied the plan.

“People think that the money we have left in the balance of the fund is an excess, it’s wrong. The money we have set aside in the surplus is the whole budget for next year,” Stein said. “This is the money we have raised over time to finance Baker’s renovation, Zahari renovation.”

Stein said the library system has its own proposal that plans to submit at a meeting of the Subway Council on Wednesday. This proposal includes a reduction in ownership tax from 11.1 to 10.5.

“I will have to tell the people in Baker, Central, Zahari, Delmont, we can keep your branches open seven days a week, but you don’t get this new roof,” Stein said.

The mayor’s service hopes the Metro Council will approve the proposal in March and may be on the public vote newsletter in October.