A comprehensive jail diversion program designed to treat those with mental illness and substance abuse problems rather than incarcerate them would save East Baton Rouge taxpayers an estimated $3 million in its first year and nearly $55 million over 10 years.
That’s according to an economic analysis released this week and commissioned by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, which is spearheading an effort to decriminalize mental illness in the community.
“While many would argue that providing services to meet the needs of those with mental illness is the right thing to do, we also know it’s a cost effective thing to do,” says the Rev. Raymond Jetson, who is working with BRAF and other community leaders on the project.
The estimated savings, unveiled at a news conference Tuesday at BRAF’s offices, are based on the savings experienced in San Antonio, which has one of the most effective diversion programs in the country. Economist M. Ray Perryman, president of the Waco, Texas-based Perryman Group, says Baton Rouge would experience both direct and indirect savings by providing the mentally ill with the treatment they need.
“We adjusted for population, your incidence level, bed space in jail, everything we could find and tried to determine what does it mean for this area if you replicated San Antonio and did almost as well as they did,” Perryman says. “Looking at it that way, the net savings in year one is around $3 million, and at maturity it grows to around $8 million a year.”
Also this week, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees and his wife, Brittany, were announced as new co-owners of Baton Rouge-based Walk-On’s Enterprises, which owns Walk-On’s Bistreaux & Bar, Happy’s Irish Pub and Walk-On’s Catering.
Drew Brees will do more than lend his well-known name and face to the company’s advertisements, social media campaigns and promotional material. He’ll also lend the Drew Brees brand to internal training, recruitment and franchise materials, says Walk-On’s co-owner and founder Brandon Landry.
“He’ll be in TV commercials, but he’ll do a lot of internal marketing for us, too,” Landry says. “There’s a reason why he’s a winner: He’s a leader, and he will help us attract a great group of people to the company.”
Here’s a rundown of some of the other top stories making headlines in Daily Report this week:
- While crowds are descending on Baton Rouge for tonight’s Taylor Swift concert at Tiger Stadium and the weekend’s Bayou Country Superfest, officials with Visit Baton Rouge are already looking ahead to later this summer, when tourism activity will not be so robust. That’s why they’re promoting a staycation prize package for the Independence Day weekend. The Star Spangled Sweepstakes, as the getaway package is called, includes a two-night stay at the Hilton Capitol Center downtown, a tour of the city, complimentary breakfast, gift cards to local restaurants and passes to museums and attractions.
- Visit Baton Rouge, which relies primarily on taxes from local hotel and motel stays for the bulk of its operating budget, saw its revenues from the hotel tax rise 14% in 2014 to more than $4.5 million, up from roughly $3.98 million in 2013. According to a newly-released audit of the agency’s finances for 2014, the $4,541,264 it netted from the hotel tax represented 98% of its total revenue of $4,645,654 for the year.
- Posters and prototypes of new innovations developed by LSU faculty members lined the walls of the packed ballroom in the Lod Cook Alumni Center on Tuesday evening at LSU’s first-ever Innovation & Technology Commercialization Inventorship Showcase. The event honored the 16 patents received and 57 works published by LSU faculty members in fiscal year 2014.
- Despite the fact that the four major candidates in the race to be Louisiana’s next governor are actively campaigning and have appeared at panel forums together across the state in recent months, few voters are paying close attention to the race so far. That’s according to survey results released this week by LSU’s Public Policy Research Lab, which show just 25% of voters in the state are “closely following news about the election.” Just 22% say they have given the race a lot of thought.
- The number of women-owned businesses in Louisiana has grown by 76.6% in the past 18 years, ranking it No. 13 nationally for growth of such firms since 1997, according to a new analysis of U.S. Census Bureau figures by American Express. Meanwhile, Louisiana ranks No. 6 nationally for growth of women-owned business revenues over the same time period, at 155.3%.
- Perkins Road overpass area cold-press juice bar The Big Squeezy has begun selling pre-packaged salads from Freshjunkie Salads+Wraps as part of a broader effort to transform itself into a more café-style eatery.“We want people to think of this more along the terms of a café so they can come and spend a little more time here,” says Kim Matsko, co-owner of The Big Squeezy. “We got new seating outside and we’ve got free Wi-Fi so they can come and sit.”
- In life, it’s often said that honest is the best policy. That turns out to be true in businesses, too, according to a new study by professors at LSU, the University of Central Missouri and the University of Missouri. The study, titled “Poor Performance and the Value of Corporate Honesty,” will be published in the August edition of the Journal of Corporate Finance. “What we were looking for initially was companies that apologized in public for messing up,” says Don Chance, the James C. Flores endowed chair of MBA studies at LSU, who co-authored the report.
- Kyle Zeringue, who has been working at the state level on business development for Louisiana Economic Development, has been tapped by the Baton Rouge Area Chamber to serve as senior vice president of business development. Zeringue, who will begin his work with BRAC on June 1, replaces Iain Vasey, who was BRAC’s executive director of business development for five years before announcing in February he was moving on to Corpus Christi, Texas, where he will lead the city’s Regional Economic Development Corporation as president and CEO.
- More than 400 Baton Rouge area businesses, schools and nonprofit organizations collectively contributed more than $9.4 million to the Capital Area United Way’s annual workforce fundraising campaign. The $9,444,738 total surpassed the $9.3 million goal CAUW had set for this year’s campaign, the organization announced this week, and it marks a 4% increase over fundraising during last year’s campaign.
- Veteran Baton Rouge restaurateur T.J. Moran died early Monday at the age of 84. Moran was a leading figure in the local restaurant industry. Before his retirement several years ago, Moran’s company, TJM Restaurant Management, owned and operated several of Baton Rouge’s best-known restaurants, including TJ Ribs, Ruffino’s, Ruth’s Chris steakhouse and Ninfa’s Mexican Restaurant.
—Steve Sanoski
