Coach Sid’s Library Tax Plan Is Essential for Much-Needed Reform of City-Parish Budget

The controversy over funding the parish library system is just the beginning of a conversation that has to play out over the next few years in East Baton Rouge Parish.

The reality is this: Local government has plenty of money, enough money to provide a high level of services to the public for the next generation — without raising taxes!  Yet, there is a financial crisis looming.

Why?  Because the parish has a number of fiefdoms (little kingdoms) where our tax dollars are locked into lower priorities, and those funds are not available for the highest priority needs of the parish.

The parish library system is one but by no means the only example of this.  At this moment, the library system has an “embarrassment of riches.”

At a time when the City-Parish government is struggling to pay the bills, the library system is sitting on $104 million!

Try as they may to defend the obvious irrational use of our tax dollars, library supporters seem blind to reality. No one is proposing we close the libraries or cut them to the bone.  But there is no way the libraries — which are currently heavily overfunded — can barrel ahead at full speed while the rest of City-Parish government outside the fiefdoms are having to cut budgets by 10 to 15 percent.

The fiefdoms with their own sources of revenue operate outside any normal system of budgeting. These include the library board, BREC, CATS, and the Council on Aging, among others.

Each one is its own little government, operating as it pleases, outside the control of the public or elected officials.  

All of these entities must be part of the annual City-Parish budget and have their spending appropriated by the Mayor-President and the Metro Council, just like the rest of government is funded. That is certainly not the case today.  The Baton Rouge Police Department could have its budget cut to zero, and the library board, BREC, and the others would still be flying high with 150 percent or more than is needed.

The reality is the City-Parish is losing $48 million or more a year because of St. George getting the 2 percent sales tax, which the people there voted to use for their own needs.

We cannot continue to operate the City-Parish the way it has been — with the fiefdoms is full swing.

The priorities of the City-Parish are police and fire protection, courts, blight and homelessness, roads and highways, drainage, mental health, and the parish prison.

The City-Parish government has many other needs and wants, and there is money for all the reasonable needs of the parish, but we have to be able to take all available tax dollars and prioritize their use.

Because so many of the fiefdoms have dedicated funds, things cannot be changed overnight.  It takes time to undo a very bad system.

The library system is first up, simply because their tax is up for renewal.  If we did what the library board wants, we would be locked into that part of the problem for another 10 years and basic city services would continue to suffer.

Coach Sid is proposing that the library tax be renewed but at a lower level, and that the funds produced by that tax be used for libraries and other vital services the people need.

Supporters of the current byzantine system have an interesting argument.  They say the libraries were poorly funded before 1986, so in order to fund them, the people voted to pass a dedicated tax to protect libraries.

What a joke!  That is disinformation and a complete re-write of history.  What really happened was the City Council was having trouble funding the Baton Rouge City Police and other essential services.  So they took library funding out of the budget and went to the voters with a separate library tax.  The entire purpose was to fund the police and essential services!

The problem is, the library tax produces far more revenue than is needed for libraries, and it is not being controlled by elected officials who are responsible for the overall well-being of the parish.

The library tax should be renewed but the funds should flow into the City-Parish budget and be appropriated like everything else.

The fiscal hit to the City-Parish budget caused by St. George is just beginning.  The prior administration was too busy fighting St. George to prepare for its inevitable arrival.  As a result, the local government is caught between raising taxes or dramatic cuts in the highest priorities.  

There is no need for there to be such a dilemma.  We have the money.  It just needs to go into one pot and be prioritized.

The situation reminds me of this: Suppose your favorite uncle said, “Son, I’ve got some extra money and I know how much you love the Internet.  I’m leaving you $100,000 and putting it in trust exclusively for use to pay your Internet bill forever.”  Great! You’ve got your Internet covered.  But then things get tough, and you can’t pay your mortgage or your electricity bill or your food bill.  There’s $100,000 over there in trust for your Internet.  Unfortunately, you won’t have a house to enjoy your Internet or electricity or food.

That’s the situation we’re in.

The library issue is really a test.  Will we buy the shortsighted argument that we must separately fund the library and keep it in a separate pot out of the control of our elected officials, or do we begin the process of bringing sanity to how our money is spent in this parish.

This is really not about libraries but about common sense and fiscal responsibility.