DALLAS — A proposed $748 million capital improvement plan for East Baton Rouge Parish, La., was officially killed Wednesday night by the Metropolitan Council.
The council voted 8 to 2 to keep Mayor-President Melvin “Kip” Holden’s plan off the Nov. 19 ballot. A parish-wide election on the mixture of property and sales tax increases to support the debt had to be approved Wednesday by seven councilors to meet the electoral deadline.
The council on July 27 refused to hear Holden explain his plan, voting 9 to 3 to remove the election request from its agenda. Holden had the election ordinance put back onto Wednesday’s agenda, and parish officials briefed councilors on the projects to be financed by bonds for more than two hours to no avail.
The three-part plan devoted $298 million to public safety, $418 million for road, bridge, and drainage infrastructure, and $32 million to expand the Baton Rouge convention center.
The $716 million of general obligation bonds designated for the capital improvements would have been supported with a property tax increase of 2.9 mills and a 0.75% increase in the parish’s sales tax. The convention center upgrade would have been financed separately through a five-year, 0.25-mill increase in the property tax.
Holden would not say whether he would make another effort in 2012 for a bond election, but said after the council meeting that Baton Rouge’s basic infrastructure has been neglected for too long.
“It’s a continuation of almost 60 years of neglect of basic infrastructure for Baton Rouge,” Holden said.
“The bottom line is that Baton Rouge can’t step forward if we’re stuck in a spot now,” he said. “We’re neutral now, but I just hope we don’t go into reverse.”
The council should have allowed voters the opportunity to decide on the improvement plan, Holden said.
“It’s too important for the voters to not have a say-so in it,” he said. “My hands are tied because the funding mechanism to take care of these problems will never get the chance to be voted on.”
“The bottom line is that these problems are not going away,” Holden said. “We are going to keep adding to them.”
Representatives from the Baton Rouge Tea Party spoke against the bond plan during the public comment period, with one calling the proposal a “bailout bond issue.”
Holden said his plan was based on needs, not politics.
“This is not Washington, D.C., this is not the Tea Party, the Republican Party, or this is not the Democratic Party,” he said. “Somebody’s going to have to take a step back for a second and evaluate just where we are as a city and parish.”
The council voted to establish a committee to study the parish’s public safety capital and operational needs. The committee, which will include Holden, councilor Trae Welch, the district attorney, and public safety officials, is to recommend a financial plan to the council within 60 days.
Parish voters in November 2008 rejected a $989 million bond proposal by Holden and a similar $901 million proposal in November 2009.
East Baton Rouge Parish’s $1.16 billion of outstanding debt is rated Aa3 by Moody’s Investors Service, AA by Standard & Poor’s, and AA-plus by Fitch Ratings.
