EAST BATON ROUGE — Only a few thousand votes separated the yays from the nays but in the end, East Baton Rouge Parish voted against Mayor-President Sid Edwards’ proposal of Thrive. The options were to approve three proposals to avoid deep cuts and restore financial stability, or reject them and risk severe consequences for city operations and staff, per Edwards.
The final vote came down to three propositions: one for each: the East Baton Rouge Libraries, Council on Aging and Mosquito Abatement and Rodent Control. All three entities renewed their millages with a portion of that millage being redirected to the East Baton Rouge city-parish’s general fund. All three failed.
With all three propositions failing, serious consequences may follow, according to Edwards. Earlier in the year, he said layoffs are likely, possibly affecting hundreds of employees.
The voter turnout was only 19%. Both LSU and Southern Universities had home games during the middle of the day, which only added to the low voter turnout.
In March 2025, Mayor-Presidents Edwards introduced Thrive as an option to help fix the dire financial situation within the parish, some of it fueled by the loss of monies once generated by what is now St. George.
On May 14, the Metro Council unanimously approved the three tax renewal proposals that were on the ballot today.
When introducing Thrive, the mayor-president said it was to pay off all of Baton Rouge’s current debt and stabilize the budget so that eventually there will be more room for improvements.
“We’re going to scrub it. We’re going to cut fat. We’re going to be efficient,” Edwards said.
Breaking down the three proposals
The proposed library millage would have remained at 11.1 mills, with 2.8 mills redirected to the general fund. This would have generated approximately $16.24 million annually for the city-parish. Additionally, the city-parish planned to rededicate $52.4 million from the library system’s fund balance to the general fund.
These redirected funds would have been used immediately to pay down about $50 million in outstanding city debt. As of the end of last year, the city-parish’s debt totaled $52,461,612, largely from past infrastructure investments such as the Public Safety Complex, drainage improvements, the Raising Cane’s River Center, and police pension obligations. Paying off that debt, Edwards says, could free up around $9.4 million each year in interest payments, money the city would no longer owe.
Millage rates for the Council on Aging would have been 2.25 mills, with 0.25 mills redirected to the general fund. That would have brought in an estimated $1.45 million annually.
Millage rates for Mosquito Abatement and Rodent Control would have been 2.06 mills, with 1 mill redirected to the city-parish, generating approximately $6 million per year.
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