Metro Councilmen John Delgado and Ryan Heck, who on Wednesday evening were among the eight members who ultimately voted down sending Mayor Kip Holden’s $335 million bond issue proposal to voters in May, already are looking for ways to bring at least one project in Holden’s package to fruition without raising taxes.
The councilmen say they agree with the Holden administration on the need for a city-parish mental health center that could provide around-the-clock services for the mentally ill, who often are sent to an already overly packed parish prison when they have run-ins with law enforcement. But Delgado and Heck maintain Holden’s administration did not do enough financial analysis before bringing the proposal to the council.
“Last night’s proposal was lazy. They did it the lazy way, to go ask for more money,” Heck says. “We believe it can be done in a revenue-neutral manner.”
The councilmen now want the Finance Department to bring them a report outlining tax-neutral options for building the mental health facility. They submitted this morning a request to have the item added to the Jan. 28 regular council meeting agenda. If their fellow council members approve the item later this month, Delgado says he hopes the Finance Department would be able to deliver the report by the council’s Feb. 11 meeting.
In the meantime, Delgado says he already has two suggestions of methods to free up funds for the facility. First, he says, there are more than 500 inmates in the parish prison who qualify for diversion programs. The money saved by reducing recidivism could be enough to fund and operate the mental health center, Delgado says.
Alternatively, Delgado says redistribution of current property tax proceeds also may free up enough funds for the facility, which as proposed in Holden’s bond measure would cost an estimated $16.6 million.
“Some of these boards—CATS, BREC, the library board—they have millages they collect, but they’re making a profit. They’re holding money they probably can’t spend,” Delgado says.
To fund the facility under Holden’s proposal, voters would be asked to approve a ¼-cent sales tax increase for 25 years to construct it and other projects, and another 0.5-mill property tax increase for 10 years to fund its operations.
Meanwhile, The Baton Rouge Area Foundation—which has taken no official position on the mayor’s bond proposal—hopes in the coming months to provide more information on how the mental health center could be financed. BRAF Special Project Manager Patricia Calfee says the organization has hired The Perryman Group, an economic and financial analysis firm based in Waco, Texas, to calculate the cost savings a center would generate.
“It’s for us to educate the community on what the impact would be. We know it’s morally the right thing to do, but how greatly it would help the city financially,” Calfee says.
BRAF became involved with research into establishing a mental health center in Baton Rouge following the death of a mentally ill inmate in the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison a year and a half ago, Calfee says. —Kelly Connelly
