Though businessman and The Advocate owner John Georges kept things interesting right up until the final minutes of the three-day qualifying period that closed Thursday, he ultimately decided not to enter the Louisiana governor’s race.
While nine candidates wound up entering the race for governor, the field of major candidates considered to have enough money and name recognition to win the race remains at four: Republicans Scott Angelle, Jay Dardenne and David Vitter, and Democrat John Bel Edwards.
Also qualifying this week was Mayor Kip Holden, who is the lone Democrat running for lieutenant governor. His opponents are Republicans Elbert Guillory, Billy Nungesser and John Young.
Also this week, the Metro Council this week began discussing setting the pay of Baton Rouge’s next mayor, but deferred on a resolution to set the pay at $157,000, effective Jan. 1, 2017. Holden is set to earn $152,317 this year.
The council approved placing on the Nov. 21 ballot a measure to add the City of Central to a revenue sharing arrangement that currently benefits Baton Rouge, Baker and Zachary.
At issue is about $1.5 million in revenue that comes from industrial properties. The revenue traditionally has been split among three of the parish’s four municipalities, according to population, with Baton Rouge receiving about 90%, and Zachary and Baker getting about 5% each. If it is approved by voters in the parish, Central stands to gain about $143,870 for the 2016 budget year, according to city-parish Department of Finance estimates.
Here’s a rundown of some of the other top stories making headlines in Daily Report this week:
- As Livingston Parish continues to experience steady growth, leaders in the commercial and residential real estate sector cite one factor as the main reason for the growth: the parish’s public school system. The sentiment was stated again and again at the 2015 Real Estate and Economic Forecast, a first-of-its-kind event in the parish that was hosted by the Livingston Board of Realtors.
- Baton Rouge General Medical Center began notifying employees Thursday that between 50 and 60 administrative and back office positions will be eliminated over the next 30 to 90 days—a move a spokeswoman says will save the hospital $2.5 million.
- Assistant branch managers at the roughly two dozen Baton Rouge area Capital One bank locations were told Wednesday that their position have been eliminated. The move is part of a larger effort to streamline and simplify operations, by which assistant branch managers are being eliminated at all of the bank’s Louisiana locations.
—Steve Sanoski
